OCT  2  7  ?003 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


^^^"X^ 


\ 


LECTURES 


UPO* 


THE  FMINCIFAIL  PMOFHJECIES 


REVELATION. 


BY  ALEXANDER  M'LEOD,  D.  D. 

PASTOR    OP    TQE    REFORMED    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH, 
^EW-rORK. 


?urely  the  Lord  God  will  do  notbing,  but  he  revealeth  his  secrets  unto  his  ser- 
vants the  prophets.  Amos. 

But  the  wicked  shall  do  wickedly  :  and  none  of  the  wicked  shall  understand;  but 
the  wise  shall  understand.  Daniel. 


NEW-YORK: 

POBHSHED  BY  WHITING  AND  WATSON,  EASTBURN,  KIRK  «  CO 

MEW  YORK;    AND  BY  WILLIAM  W.  WOODWARD, 

PHILADELPHIA. 

PAUL  AND  THOMAS,  PRINTEE3. 

1814. 


UUtrkt  if  jSiiv-York,  ??. 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  Tkai  on  ilie  .-leveiiUi  day  of  February,  in  the  thirty-eighth  year 
of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  Alexander  M'Le.odot  the  said  dis- 
trict, hath  deposited  in  this  office  the  title  of  a  bools,  the  right  whereof  he  claims  as  author,  in 
the  words  and  figures  following,  to  wit : 

"  Lectures  upon  the  Principal  Prophecies  of  the  Revelation,  by  Alexander  M'Leod,  D.  D, 
"  Pastor  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  New- York.  • 

"  Surely  the  Lord  God  will  do  nothing,  but  he  revealeth  his  secrets  unfo  his  servants  the 
"prophets.  Amos. 

"  But  the  wicked  shall  do  wickedly  :  and  none  of  the  wicked  shtdl  understand ;  but  the  wise 
"  shall  understand.  Daniel." 

In  conformity  to  the  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled,  "  An  Act  for  the 
*'  encouragement  of  learning;  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the 
"  Authors  and  Proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned;"  and  also  to 
"  an  act,  entitled.  An  Act  supplementary  to  an  Act,  entitled.  An  Act  for  the  encouragement 
"  of  learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  Authors  and  Proprie- 
'•tors  of  such  copies  during  the  times  therein  mentioned,  and  extending  the  benefits  thereof 
"  to  the  arts  of  Designing,  Engraving,  and  Etching,  Historical  and  other  Prints." 

THERON  RUDD, 
Clerk  of  the  New- York  Distric'-. 


ADVERTlSEiMENT 


JL  O  those  who  heard  the  Lectures  on  Prophecy  deli- 
vered from  the  jndpitj  and  at  whose  solicitation  the  re- 
solution  to  give  them  puhliciti/  from  the  press  was 
adopted,  the  author  owes  an  explanation. 

It  was  impossible  to  comprise  in  one  volume  of  mo- 
derate size  the  rvhole  of  his  Discourses  on  the  Apoca- 
lypse :  and  it  would  be  indiscreet  to  present  to  the  sub- 
scribers two  volumes  instead  of  one.  He  has  pursued 
a  middle  course.  He  has  comprised,  so  far  as  the  text 
would  admit  of  it,  the  prospective  history  of  modern 
times,  in  the  Lectures  which  he  has  published  j  and  he 
has  reserved  the  remaining  Lectures  for  a  subsequent 
publication  at  a  convenient  time. 


TO  THE 


nEVERB^B  BE.  JOHJS'^  B.  ROMEYJS\ 


My  Bear  Sir, 

I  SEND  you  this  Volume,  across  the  At- 
lantie,  as  a  tribute  of  Tesj)ect  and  friendship. 
Should  it  live  beyond  the  age  which  gave  it  birtli, 
this  addi'ess  will  serve,  at  least,  to  show  my  sense 
of  your  private  worth,  as  well  as  of  your  public 
usefulness  and  respectability^  There  are  very 
few  men  more  competent  than  yourself  to  judge 
of  the  merits  of  a  work  on  the  Apocalyptical 
predictions.  Of  all  my  literary  friends,  too,  you 
have  been  the  first  and  the  most  intimate.  Our 
acquaintance  commenced,  wliile  engaged  in  pre- 
paratory  studies  for  the  ministry  of  reconcilia- 
tion, and  was  speedily  ripened  into  a  mutual 


VI  DEDICATION. 

friendship,  which  has  since  continued  close  and 
uninterrupted. 

I  shall  always  remember  with  pleasure  the 
select  society,  in  which  we  both  first  employed  our 
pens  in  ivriting  for  the  public.  Our  juvenile  essays 
were  produced  for  the  Marksman,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Mohawk,  in  connexion  with  two  other  va- 
luable friends.  One  of  these,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Linn 
of  Pliiladelphia,  alas !  was  recalled  from  the  ser- 
vice of  the  church  militant,  in  the  morning  of 
his  life  and  liis  usefulness :  but  not  until  he  acqui- 
red merited  celebrity,  and  chastised  with  his  pen, 
the  man,  who  ventured  to  compare  Socrates  with 
Jesus  Christ — that  distinguished  philosopher  and 
arch-heretic.  Dr.  Priestley.  Our  other  fellow- 
member.  Judge  Miller,  who  now  holds  a  seat  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  still  cherishes, 
amidst  the  cares  of  legislation,  the  friendship 
of  early  years.  He  will  join  me  in  the  hope, 
that  your  voyage  may  prove  the  means  of  re-es- 
tablishing your  health ;  that  your  visit  to  Great 
Britain,  and  to  the  continent  of  Europe,  may 


DEDICATION.  VJl 

prove  agreeable  and  instructive;  and  that  you 
may  be  restored  in  due  time,  to  your  friends,  to 
your  flock,  and  to  your  country, 
With  great  esteem, 
I  am,  Dear  Sir, 

Your  affectionate  Friend 
and  Fellow-Sei'vant, 


ALEX.  M'LBOB. 


New-York, 
Feb.  12,  1814. 


THE  Reader  will  be  good  enough  to  add  with  his  pen,  to  the  end 
of  the  first  sentence,  in  the  second  paragraph  of  page  158,  the  fol- 
lowing words  as  necessary  to  complete  the  sense ;  "  exclusively  by 
his  own  merit." 

The  sentence  mill  then  read  thus  ; 

It  appears  to  me  altogether  improper,  therefore,  to  represent  this 
impostor  as  rising  from  obscurity  to  eminence  exclusively  by  his 
own  merit. 


PREFACE. 


However  diversified  may  be  the  opinions  and 
the  wishes  of  Christians,  relative  to  ecclesiastical  and 
political  concerns,  there  is  one  principle,  in  the  belief 
of  which  all  are  united — the  Lord  God  omnipo- 
tent REiGKETH.  This  truth  supports  their  hopes; 
because  it  gives  assurance  that  His  will  shall  be  done, 
and  that  the  result  of  the  present  shaking  of  the  na- 
tions, shall  be  the  establishment  of  righteousness  and 
peace. 

The  prophecies  of  the  Apocalypse  are  on  this  ac- 
count peculiarly  interesting  to  men  of  understand- 
ing :  for  they  not  only  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  the 
divine  Sovereignty,  and  afford  in  their  accomplish- 
ment additional  evidence  of  the  inspiration  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures  -,  but  also  give  a  correct  outline  of 
the  prospective  history  of  both  the  Christian  church, 
and  of  the  nations  whose  policy  immediately  affects 
the  cause  of  true  religion. 

All  men  are,  from  the  constitution  of  human  na- 
ture, inclined  to  look  forward  as  far  as  possible  into 
futurity ;  and  the  man  of  wisdom  will  avail  himself 
of  his  foresight  in  all  his  plans  and  pursuits.  Human 
prescience  is  indeed  very  limited ;  and>  in  the  com- 
mon concerns  of  life,  depends  upon  the  acuteness  of 
our  penetration,  and  the  accuracy  of  our  judgment. 
In  the  more  important  and  interesting  concerns  of 
religion,  divine  revelation  comes  in  aid  of  our  natu- 


5;  PRE!  ACL. 

1  al  faculties.  He,  whose  prescience  is  eternally  pei« 
feet,  reveals  in  prophecv  "  the  things  which  shall  be 
hereafter."  Of  the  Governor  of  the  univei-se  it  is 
impossible  to  form  any  correct  idea,  which  does  not 
exclude  imperfection.  He  is  not  wiser  to-day  than 
yesterday.  "  His  understanding  is  infinite."'  Ha- 
ving ljin>:elf  :.  prrftLt  coiiiprelitn-l-r'n  of  all  the  cir- 
cunisiances  which  enier  into  the  constitution  of  the 
lot  of  raan,  whether  considered  in  an  individual  or 
collective  capacity,  it  is  in  his  power  to  give  the  his- 
tory of  future,  with  as  much  facility  as  that  of  past 
events.  To  doubt  this,  is  to  deny  his  perfection.  To 
tre:*  "  dictions  with  neglect,  is  inconsistent  with 

bee ;  verence  for  his  wisdom  and  benevolence. 

From  these  reniarks,  it  will  appear  obvious,  that 
the  PROSPECTIVE  HISTORY,  which  the  wisdom  of  hea- 
ven has  provided  for  the  Cliristian  world,  is  no  less 
desirable,  as  an  object  of  benevolent  curiosity,  than 
it  is  useful  as  a  motive  of  action,  to  the  intelligent 
Chriitian  and  the  virtuous  statesman.  3Ien,  accord- 
ingly, who  hold  the  first  grade  in  the  scale  both  of 
learning  and  native  talent,  have  employed  a  portion 
of  their  time  in  the  exposition  of  Scripture  predic- 
tions. It  would  be  dilEcult  to  select  from  the  list  of 
their  names,  those  who  have  the  l>e-t  right  to  be  first 
mentioned  in  this  connexion;  but  every  scholar, how- 
ever iirnorant  of  the  catalogue  of  Scripture  exposi- 
tors. 1.3-  heard  of  the  man  who  so  ably  explained 
ihe  Ti.jns,  in  relation  to  both  war  and  peace, 

and  01  Clin  who  demonstrated  the  laws  which  govern 
the  material  world— Grotius  and  Sir  Is.\ac  >'ewto>'. 
Both  these  men  have  furnished  commentaries  upon 
prophecy. 


PREFACE.  XI 

The  author  of  the  Lectures  now  pre=ented  to  the 
public,  ha=  had  occasion  to  make  frequent  mention 
of  the  most  distinguished  writers  on  the  same  sub- 
ject. Their  names  often  sanction  the  interpretation 
which  he  gives ;  and  when  he  dissents  from  their 
opinions,  respect  for  their  merit  required  that  he 
should  assi^  his  reasons. 

To  English  literature  we  are  certainly  indebted 
for  the  best  explanations  of  the  Revelation;  and  the 
more  recent  works,  published  in  Great  Britain,  afford- 
ed many  facilities  for  the  present  undertaking.  The 
writers  of  that  nation  have  not,  however,  succeeded 
in  keeping  themselves  free  from  the  bias  of  political 
opinion.  The  terrible  contest  which  at  present  agi- 
tates the  whole  family  of  nations,  scarcely  tolerates 
a  neutral,  even  in  the  literary  or  theological  world. 
The  admirers  of  the  French  Revolution  have  mag- 
nified its  importance,  in  its  ultimate  tendency  to  me- 
liorate the  condition  of  society;  and  the  advocates 
of  the  British  policy  1    -  .bt  ia  prophecy  for 

arguments  to  strengtht,.  --j_.^...dtion  lo  the  Gallic 
conqueror.  It  is  with  the  expounder  of  prophecy 
as  with  the  writer  of  history — difficult  to  hold  a  pen 
unintluenced  by  prejudice  or  partiality.  Although 
the  facts  remain  undisputed  and  imaltered,  various 
affections  will  impart  a  variety  of  colouring  to  the 
representation.  The  human  mind  too,  is  prone  to 
attach  undue  importance  to  objects  which,  somehow, 
become  very  interesting,  and,  of  this  description  are 
cotemporary  events  and  characters.  The  predic- 
tions therefore,  which  are  now  fuitilling,  and  about  to 
be  fultilled,  have  been  most  subjected  to  misinter- 
pretation :  and  both  the  events  and  characters  o{  the 


XU  PREFACE. 

present  age,  have  been  complimented  with  applica- 
tions of  certain  prophecies,  which  respect  quite  other 
persons  and  periods.  In  relation  to  chronological 
considerations  also,  a  very  natural  mistake  has  been 
frequently  committed.  More  regard  has  been  paid 
to  the  splendour  of  events,  and  the  contiguity  in  re- 
spect of  time,  than  to  the  connexion  of  moral  causes 
with  their  proper  effects.  Nor  has  the  principal  de- 
sign of  the  prophetic  history  always  been  kept  suf- 
ficiently in  view  by  the  several  expositors.  The 
Apocalypse  is  intended  less  for  personal  than  for  so- 
cial improvement  in  religion.  It  particularly  illus- 
trates the  history  of  those  great  moral  principles 

WHICH  AFFECT  THE  PUBLIC  INTERESTS  OF  TRUE  REH- 

cioN ;  and  neither  the  revolutions  of  nations,  nor  ex- 
traordinary men,  are  otherwise  esteemed  worthy  of 
notice,  than  as  connected  with  the  prevalence  or  de- 
pression of  such  principles. 

To  this  idea  the  author  has  given  a  prominent 
place  in  these  Lectures.  He  generally  follows  in  his 
interpretation  the  path  of  Bishop  Newton,  as  im- 
proved by  Mr.  Faber;  but  on  several  interesting 
subjects  he  dissents  from  both  these  eminent  exposi- 
tors. Connecting  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  with  the 
book  of  Revelation,  he  has  given  an  outline  of  the 
history  of  the  moral  world,  in  the  order,  and  within 
the  period,  contemplated  in  these  inspired  writings. 
He  has  endeavoured  faithfully  to  apply  the  fact  to 
the  prediction,  and  to  make  true  religion  the  meri- 
dian line  to  which  the  several  parts  of  the  crowded 
map  are  referred. 

New-York,  Feb.  1814. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


LECTURE  I. 

Rev.  i.  '^....Blessed  is  he  that  readethy  and  they  that 
hear  the  words  of  this  prophecy,  and  keep  those  things 
which  are  written  therein :  for  the  time  is  at  hand. 

3,  HIS  introductory  benediction  is  repeated  with  lit- 
tle variation  toward  the  close  of  the  Apocalypse, 
Chap.  xxii.  7.  "  Behold,  T  come  quickly :  blessed  is 
he  that  keepeth  the  sayings  of  the  prophecy  of  this 
book."  It  bespeaks  your  attention.  Christians,  to  the 
course  of  expository  lectures  upon  which  I  now  en- 
ter. The  subject  of  these  lectures,  is  the  principeil 
prophecies  of  the  book  of  Revelation. 

Something,  I  am  aware,  is  necessary  in  order  to 
overcome  the  prejudices  which  very  generally  pre- 
vail, even  among  the  disciples  of  our  Lord,  against 
the  careful  study  of  a  portion  of  sacred  scripture 
which  is  considered  as  too  obscure  to  be  well  under- 
stood, and  too  remote  from  the  immediate  comforts 
and  duties  of  a  life  of  godliness  to  be  made  the  sub- 
ject of  pulpit  discussion.  No  words  which  I  can  use, 
appear  to  me  so  well  calculated  to  obviate  such  un- 
A 


Z"  INTRODUCTORY. 

just  and  pernicious  prejudices,  as  those  which  have 
been  read  as  the  text  of  this  discourse,  and  which  I 
repeat  in  order  to  explain.  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth 
and  they  that  hear  the  words  of  this  prophecy y  and  keep 
those  things  which  are  written  therein :  for  the  time  is 
at  hand. 

The  Prophecy  is  the  characteristic  name,  which, 
by  divine  inspiration,  is  given  to  the  book  which 
closes  the  canon  of  scripture,  and  which  is  entitled 
"  The  Revelation  of  John  the  Divine."  It  contains, 
it  is  true,  like  other  parts  of  the  sacred  volume,  pre- 
cepts, promises,  doctrines,  suitable  reflections  on  the 
past,  and  a  description  of  many  things  actually  ex- 
isting at  the  time :  yet  so  great  a  proportion  of  it  i^ 
devoted  to  a  prediction  of  the  future,  as  to  justify 
the  application  of  this  title  to  the  whole  work. 

The  time  is  at  hand.  The  writer  and  the  first 
readers  of  the  Apocalypse  lived  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  time  of  which  the  book  gives  the  pros- 
pective history.  The  whole  period  contemplated  is 
indeed  a  very  long  one.  Since  this  prophecy  was 
written,  many  generations  of  men  have  passed  away 
to  the  invisible  world ;  and  still  it  may  be  said  with 
truth  to  you  who  read  and  hear,  "the  time  is  at 
hand."  The  most  important  era  referred  to  in  these 
predictions  is  still  future,  and  rapidly  approaching. 
It  is  indeed  Avith  respect  to  some  always  at  hand. 

The  grand  period,  one,  as  to  its  character,  includes 
MANY  distinct  periods,  distant  too  from  one  another, 
which,  whether  taken  severally  or  collectively,  con- 
stitute the  time  in  which  the  Son  of  God  manifestly 
obtains  the  victory  over  all  opposing  power.    This 


THE   PROPHBCy.  0 

is  emphatically  « the  clay  of  the  Lord."  Although 
this  great  day  is,  as  it  respects  the  successive  genera- 
tions of  men,  removed  to  a  vast  distance,  it  is  usual 
with  the  inspired  writers*  to  announce  it  as  near,  be- 
cause to  every  individual  this  is  in  fact  the  case. 
The  day  of  his  death  h  to  every  man  the  day  of 
Christ's  coming. 

He  that  readeth  and  they  that  hear  the  words  of 
this  prophecy y  and  keep  those  things  which  are  written 
thereiny  are  those  who  study  and  understand  the 
book  of  Revelation,  and  who  regulate  their  hearts, 
their  lives,  the  principles  which  they  embrace, 
and  the  connexions  which  they  form,  agreeably  to 
that  view  which  it  gives  of  true  religion  in  respect  to 
the  great  social  concerns,  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical, 
of  the  several  nations  of  the  earth.  "  Keep  those 
things  which  are  written  therein,"  signifies  more  than 
to  preserve  the  text  uncorrupted.  T»j§«vT€f,  the  word 
here  employed,  implies  obedience  to  the  command- 
ment— the  exemplification  of  the  great  principles  un- 
folded in  this  prophecy,  in  our  christian  practice.! 

Blessed  is  he  that  readeth — they  that  hear — and 
keep,  &:c. 

This  is  our  encouragement  to  study  and  practically 
apply  the  book  of  the  Revelation.  Those  who  un- 
derstand its  principles  and  reduce  them  to  practice, 
shall  enjoy  peculiar  blessings  from  the  Lord.     "  God 

*  Isa.  xiii.  6.    Joel  ii.  1.     Phil.  iv.  5.     1  Pet.  iv.  7. 
t  THPEJi  is  used  to  describe  the  sum  of  Christian  obedience  iu 
the  great  apostolical  commission,  Matt,  xxviii.  20.     See  also  xix. 
17.  and  xxiii.  3.     And  the  apostle  John  frequently  employs  it  in 
the  same  sense. 


4  INTRODUCTORY. 

is  not  a  man,  that  he  should  lie ;  neither  the  son  of 
man  that  he  should  repent :  hath  he  said,  and  shall 
he  not  do  it  ?  or  hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he  not 
make  it  good  ?  Behold,  I  have  received  command- 
ment to  bless ;  and  he  hath  blessed,  and  I  cannot  re- 
verse it."  Our  Lord  assures  us  that  he  will  confer  his 
blessings  on  all  who  attend  to  the  doctrines  of  the 
gospel,  and  yield  to  his  holy  precepts  evangelical 
obedience.  Luke  xi.  18.  Yea,  rather  blessed  are 
they  that  hear  the  word  of  God,  and  keep  it.  John 
xiii.  17.  If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye 
do  them.  Besides,  however,  the  felicity  which  the 
Christian  enjoys  through  the  medium  of  his  know- 
ledge of  the  great  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  of 
his  practical  holiness,  there  is  a  special  beatitude  in 
the  understanding  of  the  peculiar  predictions  of  the 
Apocalypse.  This  book  affords  its  proper  aliment 
to  that  noble  disinterestedness  which  belongs  to  the 
Christian  as  a  member  of  the  church  of  God :  for  in 
this  book,  the  state  of  the  Church  is  displayed  in  re- 
lation to  her  members  and  her  Head,  her  friends  and 
her  enemies,  her  troubles  and  her  triumphs.  Such 
views  are  always  highly  interesting.  "  How  goodly 
are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob,  and  thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel  I 
for  from  the  top  of  the  rocks  I  see  him,  and  from  the 
hills  I  behold  him :  lo  the  people  shall  dw^ell  alone, 
and  shall  not  be  reckoned  among  the  nations.  Blessed 
is  he  that  blesseth  thee,  and  cursed  is  he  that  curseth 
thee." 

Thiis  exposition  of  my  text,  will,  I  trust,  super- 
sede the  necessity  of  apology  for  endeavouring  to 
turn  the  attention  of  the  congregation  during  one 


NATURE   OF   PROPHECY.  •> 

part  of  the  public  exercises  of  the  Sabbath,  to  the 
words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book;  and  it  justifies 
me  in  laying  before  you  in  this  introductory  dis- 
couise.  The  true  nature  and  design  of  this  prophe- 
cy—The character  of  its  style,  and  the  proper  mode 
of  interpretation— Together  with  the  several  uses  to 
which  it  is  subservient. 

I.  What  is  the  nature  and  design  of  this  prophecy? 

It  is  of  importance  in  entering  upon  the  study  of 
"  the  Revelation,"  to  form  precise  ideas  of  the  ge- 
neral nature  and  design  of  the  whole  system  of  sa- 
cred prophecy,  and  of  the  special  design  of  this  re- 
markable part  of  the  system.  The  word  prophecy 
is  used,  both  in  scripture  and  in  common  discourse, 
with  some  latitude  of  signification ;  but  it  is  not  dif- 
ficult to  discover  its  proper  meaning.  n^o(py]riM  is 
applied  in  the  New  Testament  to  any  declaration 
delivered  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,*  to 
the  power  or  gift  of  declaring  divine  truth,t  and 
even  to  the  actual  exercise  of  such  gift  or  faculty.^ 
But  it  principally  signifies  the  prediction  by  inspira- 
tion of  future  events.  This  is  the  proper  meaning. 
The  other  significations  must  be  referred  to  figura- 
tive usage.  It  is  observable  too,  that  in  all  these 
applications  there  is  included  the  idea  of  divine 
agency ;  and  the  common  use  of  the  word  also  im- 
plies the  prediction  of  what  is  future. 

But  we  are  not  to  confound  with  prophecy,  that 
which  is  no  more  than  a  conjecture  of  future  proba- 
*  1  Pet.  i.  20.     t  Rom.  xii.  6.     t  ^  Thoss.  v.  2n. 


b  INTRODUCTORY. 

bilities ;  nor  even  that  which  is  a  certain  prediction 
of  the  effect  from  a  correct  knowledge  of  the  causes 
in  action.  "  Human  sagacity,"  said  a  man  of  a  very 
sound  and  discriminating  mind,=*  "  can  foresee  events 
that  happen  according  to  the  uniform  course  of  na- 
ture, or  events  of  which  there  are  probable  causes 
existing  at  the  time  when  they  are  foretold,  yet  in- 
numerable things  are  beyond  its  reach ;  nor  is  there 
any  true  history  in  the  world,  but  whoever  reads  it, 
and  knows  the  truth  of  it,  is  fully  persuaded  that  it 
was  impossible  to  have  written  it  after  the  events 
happened,  without  sufficient  information,  or  before 
the  events  happened,  without  inspiration,  which  is 
the  only  way  of  sufficient  information  of  things  to 
come.'*  The  true  idea  of  prophecy  is  the  prediction 
by  divine  inspiration  of  future  events  not  foreseen 
by  human  sagacity.  The  power  of  predicting  is 
alone  from  God,  and  depends  on  that  foreknowledge 
which  was  from  the  beginning  employed  about  what- 
soever comes  to  pass;  and  the  exercise  of  this  power 
on  the  part  of  the  prophets  is  uniformly  under  the 
divine  direction,  without  being  in  any  case,  or  in 
any  degree  subject  to  the  mere  will  of  man.  The 
objects,  consequently,  about  which  it  is  employed, 
the  time  and  circumstances  with  which  the  prediction 
is  connected,  and  the  degree  of  perspicuity,  and  mi- 
nuteness of  detail  with  which  the  event  is  laid  before 
us,  depend  entirely  upon  him  whose  understanding  is 
infinite.  For  the  prophecy  came  not  in  old  time  by  the 
will  of  man  ;  hut  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were 
moved  hy  the  Holy  Ghost. 

*  Maclauritt. 


DESIGN   OF    PROPHECY.  7 

It  is  certainly  a  legitimate  inference  from  this  fact, 
that  the  design  of  tlie  system  of  prophecy  is  great  and 
important.  It  is  worthy  of  its  Author.  But  for  a 
knowledge  of  that  design,  we  must  submit  to  be 
taught  by  a  divine  instructor.  It  may  be  said  of  this, 
as  of  the  other  parts  of  the  system  of  the  grace  of 
God  toward  men,  "  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  the 
things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love 
him.  But  God  hath  revealed  them  unto  us  by  his 
Spirit."  In  vain  should  we  attempt  to  discover  other- 
wise the  objects,  most  fit  in  the  history  of  the  uni- 
verse, about  which  Jehovah  should  employ  the  powers 
of  his  prescience.  "  For  my  thoughts  are  not  your 
thoughts,  neither  are  your  ways  my  ways,  saith  the 
Lord."  The  wisdom  of  the  world  is  foolishness. 
That,  however,  which  is  declared  in  the  scriptures  to 
be  the  object  of  the  system  of  prophecy  is  one, 
which  in  the  estimation  of  the  most  intelligent  men, 
must  appear  both  important  and  magnificent.  An 
object  for  which  the  pillars  of  the  earth  are  upheld, 
which  angels  contemplate  with  an  interest  uncon- 
ceivable by  mortals,  and  which  heaven  hath  destined 
to  become  the  perfection  of  beauty ;  that  holy  em- 
pire which  is  composed  of  redeemed  men,  predesti- 
nated to  shine  in  perpetual  glory,  with  the  Son  of 
God  at  their  head  as  their  King  and  Lawgiver. 
Jesus  Christ,  and  his  Church  in  him,  is  the  grand  ob- 
ject of  scripture  prophecy.  The  testimony  of  Jesus 
is  the  Spirit  of  prophecy.  "  A  Spirit  of  prophecy" 
said  Bishop  Hurd  at  the  Lincoln's  Inn  lecture,  "  per- 
vading all  time — characterising  one  person  of  the 


8  INTRODUCTORY. 

highest  dignity — and  proclaiming  the  accomplish- 
ment of  one  purpose  the  most  beneficent,  the  most 
divine  that  imagination  itself  can  project." 

The  prophetic  system  is  but  the  prospective  histo- 
ry of  the  mediatorial  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  it  embraces  nothing  else  but  for  the  sake 
of  its  connexion  with  this  object.  The  Apocalypse 
is  in  a  distinguished  manner  the  testimony  of  our  Sa- 
viour, and  the  history  of  his  kingdom.  It  is  The 
Revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  God  gave  unto  him, 
to  show  unto  his  servants  things  which  must  shortly  come 
to  pass. 

The  Head  of  the  church  foresaw  the  danger  to 
which  his  people  would  be  exposed  in  that  dark  and 
painful  period  which  intervenes  between  the  apostoli- 
cal age  and  the  millennium.  He  foresaw  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  nations  to  his  own  kingdom.  He  foresaw 
his  people  scattered  over  these  nations ;  influenced 
and  polluted  by  their  customs  and  their  maxims ;  se- 
vered into  factions ;  often  turned  against  one  another 
to  subserve  the  policy  of  their  enemies ;  generally 
oppressed  and  persecuted  by  the  powers  of  the 
world ;  and  he  placed  this  book  in  their  hands  to  be 
their  light  and  their  comfort.  It  is  the  peculiar  ob- 
ject of  this  book  to  describe  the  true  state  of  the  mo- 
ral world,  to  point  out  the  abuse  of  the  institutions 
of  heaven  which  has  obtained  in  society,  and  to  pre- 
scribe the  duty  of  faithful  men  in  relation  to  the  cor- 
rupt social  establishments  which  from  time  to  time 
should  exist,  in  opposition  to  that  moral  order  which 
the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God  promises  ulti- 
mately to  introduce  in  Church  and  State  over  all  the 


PROPHETIC    STYLE.  9 

nations  of  the  earth.  In  all  the  prophecies  of  the 
Apocalypse,  respect  is  accordingly  had  not  to  the 
gratification  of  an  idle  curiosity ;  but  to  our  instruc- 
tion and  comfort.  The  great  outline  of  the  events 
predicted  may  be  previously  discovered  with  certain- 
ty; and  the  nearer  the  thne,  of  the  accomplishment 
of  the  prophecy,  approaches,  the  minute  circumstan- 
ces may  be  the  more  accurately  traced.  The  exact 
correspondence  of  the  fact  with  the  prediction  is  not 
however  to  be  seen  until  the  event  comes  to  pass, 
"  God  gave  these  and  the  prophecies  of  the  Old 
Testament,"  said  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  "  not  to  gratify 
men's  curiosity  by  enablingthem  to  foreknow  things; 
but  that  after  they  were  fulfilled,  they  might  be  inter- 
preted by  the  event,  and  his  own  Providence,  not  the 
interpreters,  be  then  manifested  thereby  to  the  world." 

II.  AVhat  is  the  character  of  the  prophetic  style, 
and  what  the  rule  of  interpretation  ? 

Every  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  writings  of 
the  prophets,  has  undoubtedly  remarked  that  the  ex- 
pressions which  they  use  are  highly  figurative. 
Some  recent  expositors  have  on  this  account  pro- 
nounced the  prophetic  style  one  sui  generis — a  sym- 
bolical style  radically  distinct  from  every  other  spe- 
cies of  composition.  Dr.  Johnston  considers  it  as  of 
this  description,  and  distinguishes  the  Hieroglyphic 
from  the  simple  symbol.*     I  nevertheless  am  entire- 

*  "  There  are  two  characters  in  this  language.  The  one  is  uni- 
formly called  an  Hieroglyphic,  and  the  other  a  symbol,  in  the 
ronimentary.     An  Hieroglyphic  is  a  complete  figure,  made  up  oi 

B 


10  INTRODUCTORY. 

]y  unable  to  see  either  the  necessity  or  the  use,  of 
considering  the  style  in  which  the  prophets  wrote  as 
essentially  differing  from  that  of  every  other  part 
of  the  Bible,  or  of  subjecting  it  to   quite  different 
rules  of  interpretation.     The  Oriental  manner  of 
expression  in  general,  and  that  of  the  sacred  scrip- 
tures in   particular,  abounds  in  splendid  imagery; 
and   the  descnptive  part  of    divine    revelation  is 
fully  as  figurative  as  the  predictive.     Nor  can  I  at 
all  admit  that  predictions  are  never  delivered  in  plain 
alphabetical  language.     The  truth  is,  the  writings  of 
the  prophets,  even  in  those  parts  in  which  the  style  is 
truly  symbolical,  are  subject  to  the  same  rules  of  in- 
terpretation which  obtain  in  all  other  writings.     In 
every  composition  we  find  figurative  language ;  and 
in  several  authors  of  our  own  age  we  find  an  abun- 
dant use  of  the  metaphor.     Both  the  metaphor  and 
the  hieroglyphic  are  analogous  to  historical  paint- 
ing ;  and  there  is  not  a  better  test  of  the  correctness 
of  a  metaphor  than  the  one  proposed  by  Dr.  Blair, 
who  in  matters  of  criticism  is  excellent  authority, 
namely,  that  we  should  try  to  form  a  picture  of  the 
several  parts,  and  see  how  they  correspond.     It  is 
not  however  to  be  denied  that  this  figurative  style 
requires,  in  order  to  be  understood,  a  particular  ac- 
quaintance with  the  several  sources  from  which  the 
principal  part  of  its  imagery  is  drawn.     The  earlier 
prophets  selected  their  symbols  from  the  well-known 
customs  and  arts  of  the  Hebrews  and  the  neighbour- 

Ihe  assemblage  of  two  or  more  parts  into  one  picture.  And  a  sym- 
bol is  a  single  detached  member."  Introd.  p.  4.  Commcniary  on  the 
Revelation. 


PROPHETIC    STYLE.  11 

ing  countries,  Egypt  and  Chaldea.  The  writers  of 
the  New  Testament  join  to  these  the  customs  of 
Greece  and  Rome.  The  principal  sources  from 
which  the  Apocalypse  draws  its  imagery  are  the  fol- 
lowing, viz.  The  natural  world ;  the  history  contain- 
ed in  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  the 
ecclesiastical  polity  of  the  Jews,  including  both  the 
Temple  service  and  tlie  Synagogue. 

It  is  obvious  from  these  considerations,  that  in  or- 
der to  understand  the  phraseology  of  the  book  of 
Revelation,  it  is  necessary  not  only  to  have  contem- 
plated with  discernment  the  economy  of  tlie  natural 
world,  but  moreover  to  be  well  versed  in  scripture 
history  in  connexion  with  profane,  and  to  be  fami- 
liarly acquainted  with  the  ordinances  of  religious 
worship,  as  they  were  established  in  Judea. 

Such  attainments  will  qualify  a  man  for  under- 
standing the  language  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book; 
but  much  more  is  necessary  to  understand  the  p7'o- 
phccy  itself y  and  be  able  to  apply  the  prediction  to  its 
proper  event.  That  event  must  be  itself  understood. 
A  knowledge  of  true  religion  as  differing  from  mere 
forms  of  godliness,  from  priestcraft,  and  superstition, 
and  a  due  measure  of  acquaintance  with  history,  ci- 
vil and  ecclesiastical,  are  indispensably  necessary  to 
him  who  would  point  out  the  accomplishment  of  the 
Apocalyptical  predictions.  We  have  therefore  no 
reason  to  wonder  that  this  book  is  not  well  under- 
stood in  the  Christian  Church.  No  man  is  likely  to 
make  proficiency  in  any  branch  of  knowledge  with- 
out entering  into  the  spirit  of  it ;  and  it  is  impossible 
to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  tlie  instruction  communi- 


12  INTRODUCTORY. 

cated  in  this  book,  without  such  religious  discrimina- 
tion as  will  distinguish  Christianity  from  the  corrupt 
establishments  of  mere  politicians. 

Before  I  give  you  the  rules  of  interpretation,  I 
think  it  necessary  to  meet  an  objection  made  to  the 
style  of  the  prophecies  upon  the  score  of  obscurity. 
It  inevitably  follows  from  the  nature  of  the  prophecy 
itself,  and  the  character  of  the  style  in  which  it  is 
delivered,  as  already  described,  that  it  is  not  easily 
understood.  While  this  fact  is  both  admitted  and 
accounted  for,  it  affords  a  striking  evidence  of  that 
wisdom  which  inspiied  the  mind,  and  superintended 
the  pen  of  the  sacred  wTiters:  but  we  cannot  admit 
that  any  sentence  in  this  book  is  absolutely  unintelli- 
gible, or  that  the  phraseology  is  undeterminate.  To 
a  novice .  in  the  sciences,  the  expressions  of  the 
Mathematician,  the  Botanist,  and  the  Chymist,  how- 
ever precise,  will  appear  obscure ;  and  may  be  sup- 
posed to  be  a  language  sid  geiuris.  But  a  proficient 
in  these  several  studies  will  not  complain  of  the  ob- 
scurity of  the  style  which  philosophy  finds  it  neces- 
sary to  employ  in  the  instruction  of  her  pupils.  It 
is  not  in  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  the  words,  so  much 
as  in  understanding  the  subject,  that  the  difficulty 
lies,  in  respect  either  to  theology  or  any  other  sci- 
ence. The  same  observation  will  apply  to  the  sys- 
tem of  prophecy. 

Absolute  unintelligibility  is  not  to  be  affirmed  of 
any  part  of  the  Bible.  This  would  be  inconsistent  with 
the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  our  heavenly  instructor,  be- 
cause it  would  render  such  part  entirely  unprofitable. 
The  scriptures  are  ao  further  a  revelation,  than  they  are 


PROPHETIC    STYLE.  13 

intelligible.  He  that  spcokcth  in  an  unknown  tongue^ 
speaketh  not  unto  men  ;  for  no  inan  nndcrstanddh  him. 
So  likewise  except  ye  utter  words  easy  to  be  under  stood, 
ye  shall  speak  unto  the  air.  If  I  know  not  the  meaning 
of  the  voice f  I  shall  be  unto  him  that  speaketh  a  barba- 
rian, and  he  that  speaketh  shall  be  a  barbarian  unto 
me.  In  the  church  I  had  rather  speak  five  words  with 
my  understanding,  that  I  might  teach  others  also,  than 
ten  thousand  words  in  an  unknown  tongue:^  A  Reve- 
lation, nevertheless,  designed  for  men  of  every  capa- 
city, of  every  nation,  and  of  every  age,  must,  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  prove  to  many,  in  any  given 
age,  in  some  instances,  obscure.  The  apostle  Peter 
says  of  the  epistles  of  his  beloved  brother  Paul  him- 
self, notwithstanding  his  constant  use  of  great  plain- 
ness of  speech,  that  they  contain  some  things  hard  to 
be  understood.f  This  also  is  the  case  with  the  pro- 
phetic pail  of  scripture,  independently  of  all  pecu- 
liarity of  phraseology.  No  simplicity  of  diction 
could  render  a  prophecy  completely  intelligible  in 
all  its  circumstances,  even  after  its  accomplishment, 
to  a  person  otherwise  entirely  ignorant  of  the  fact  to 
which  it  referred ;  and  much  less  are  the  prophecies 
which  remain  to  be  fulfilled,  at  the  distance  of  ages, 
to  be  comprehended  by  those  who  previously  have 
no  idea  of  the  subject  of  which  they  treat.  Precise- 
ly for  the  same  reason,  a  detached  paragraph  in  the 
celebrated  histories  of  Hume  and  Robertson,  would 
appear  unintelligible  to  a  reader  ignoiant  of  the  con- 
nexion ;  and  utterly  unacquainted  with  the  era  and 
the  facts  under  contemplation. 

■    1  Cor.  xiv   1—19.     t  2  Pet.  iii.  IG. 


14  INTRODUCTORY. 

There  is  also  another  consideration  which  will  tend 
to  illustrate  this  subject.  The  same  prophecy  has, 
in  some  instances,  reference  to  more  than  one  event. 
These  events  may  be  perfectly  distinct,  as  to  time 
and  some  other  circumstances,  although  one,  as  to  the 
special  intent  of  the  prediction.*  This  frequently 
happens  in  those  instances  in  which  the  prophets  for 
the  comfort  of  believers  under  both  Testaments, 
speak  of  the  coming  of  Christ,  of  his  kingdom,  and 
of  the  consequent  deliverance,  Under  the  old  dis- 
pensation too,  which  made  provision  for  many  typi- 
cal persons  and  events,  the  same  prediction  frequent- 
ly respected  first  the  type,  but  secondly,  and  chiefly, 
the  antitype  .f 

We  have  admitted,  you  perceive,  that  there  is  some 
difficulty  in  ascertaining  the  precise  event  predicted 

*  This  princiitle  is  explained  at  great  length  by  Bishop  Hurd. 
Sermons  on  Prophecy. 

f  Real  or  affected  ignorance  oF  this  principle,  characterizes  that 
work  of  the  once  celebrated  Thomas  Paine,  which  he  calls  An  Exa- 
mination of  the  passages  in  the  New  Testament,  quoted  from  the  Old^ 
and  called  prophecies  concerning  Jesus  Christ.  This  work  was  pub- 
lished by  the  author  in  New-York,  a  little  before  his  death;  and 
shows,  that  he  who  confessedly  outlived  personal  respectability,  and 
all  decency  of  manners,  also  had  lost  that  vigour  of  intellect,  for 
which,  however  frequently  prostituted,  he  was  once  remarkable. 
He  selects  a  few  of  the  least  prominent  passages  quoted  from  the  Old 
into  the  New  Testament,  and  showing  that  these  had  some  reference 
to  persons  who  lived  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  he  infers  that  they 
were  misrepresented  when  applied  to  our  Lord.  This  deceitful  at- 
tempt, as  dishonourable  in  its  plan,  as  it  is  feeble  in  its  execution, 
can  injure  none  but  such  as  are  already  viciously  inclined,  or  exceed- 
ingly ignorant.  There  is  however  a  work  upon  the  same  subject, 
constructed  with  a  very  different  design,  and  leading  to  a  different 
rt'sult,  worthy  of  attentive  perusal ;  An  Essay  on  the  Prophecies  re- 


Prophetic  style.  15 

by  the  prophets,  and  have  also  accounted  for  this  dif- 
ficuhy,  as  well  from  the  nature  of  the  subject,  as  the 
character  of  the  style  in  wiiicli  the  prophecy  is  writ- 
ten. It  is  not  to  be  forgotten,  in  connexion  with 
these  remarks,  that  the  degree  of  obscurity  in  which 
the  prophecies  are  involved  perfectly  accords  Avith 
tlie  wisdom  of  God  in  his  works  of  creation  and  pro- 
vidence. An  elegant  drapery  thrown  around  the 
works  of  nature  hide  their  secrets  from  the  vicAv  of 
the  negligent  or  superficial  observer;  and  shall  we 
suppose  that  the  vast  scheme  of  Providence  should 
be  comprehended  by  the  sons  of  men?  or  that  the 
whole  system  of  prophecy  should  be  understood  by 
those  who  are  to  act,  frequently  in  ignorance  of  the 
design,  a  prominent  pail  in  its  accomplishment?  The 
Lord  governs  the  sons  of  men,  effectually  indeed,  for 
the  fulfilment  of  his  purposes,  but  yet  without  de- 
stroying the  nature  of  their  moral  agency.  He  go- 
verns them  as  men,  acting  freely,  and  being  account- 
able for  their  conduct.  It  was  never  intended,  there- 
fore, that  the  prophecies  should  be  fully  understood 
by  those  who  are  destitute  both  of  candour  and  of 
piety ;  men  who  would  strive  to  prevent  the  event 
foietold ;  but  who,  as  the  case  stands,  may  be  the 
agents  in  bringing  it  to  pass.  "  Is  it  ever  to  be  sup- 
posed that  if  the  individual  Jews  who  crucified  Jesus 
had  clearly  seen,  from  the  ancient  prophecies,  that 

latins;  to  Messiah,  by  Mnclaurin.  No  man  who  possesses  sufficient 
intellect  to  coniprchcnd  tlie  reasoning  employed  by  this  very  sensi- 
ble author,  can  rise  up  I'rom  a  perusal  of  the  Essay,  without  acknow- 
ledging that  he  ha?  |it<j\  td  from  the  Old  Testament  scriptures,  that 
.I<»sus  is  the  Chri-t. 


16  IJ?TRODUCTORY. 

he  was  the  Messiah,  and  that  his  kingdom  was  not  of 
this  world,  and  yet  that  with  wicked  hands  they  were 
to  crucify  and  slay  him,  that  they  would  have  done 
so  ?"*  Such  is  certainly  the  fact,  as  affirmed  by  the 
spirit  of  prophecy,  Dan.  xii.  10.  "The  wicked  shall 
do  wickedly:  and  none  of  the  wicked  shall  under- 
stand ;  but  the  wise  shall  understand." 

Every  expositor  has  deemed  it  necessary  to  inter- 
mingle with  the  explanation  of  prophecy  some  rules 
of  interpretation,  or  to  specify,  in  a  more  formal 
manner  in  his  introduction  those  principles,  upon 
which  he  designed  to  proceed.  Mede,  Dabuze, 
Warburton,  Hurd,  .Johnston,  and  Woodhouse,  may  be 
consulted  upon  this  subject,  with  great  pleasure  and 
profit,  by  those  who  have  leisure  and  inclination  for 
such  studies.  I  deem  it  sufficient  for  all  useful  pur- 
poses to  lay  before  you,  in  the  most  simple  form,  those 
undisputed  principles  upon  which  the  language  of 
prophecy  is  to  be  applied  and  understood.  We  shall 
have  occasion  in  the  course  of  these  lectures  to  enter 
into  more  minute  detail  in  proving  the  necessity  of 
their  application  to  certain  specified  cases,  in  which 
1  am  constrained  to  differ  from  some  of  the  respect- 
able expositors  who  have  gone  before  me.  At  pre- 
sent I  state  only  the  following 

Utiles  of  Interpretation. 

i.  Ascertain,  from  the  connexion,  the  subject  whicJi 
the  prophecy  has  under  consideration;  and  whatever 

*  Johnston'^s  Comment  on  this  text. 


RULES   OF   INTERPRETATION.  JT 

may  be  the  person  or  thing  referred  to,  let  it  be  con- 
templated not  in  a  detached  character,  but  as  con- 
nected with  the  entire  system  of  which  it  is  a  part. 

2.  Consider  from  what  source  the  symbol  or  sym- 
bols used  in  the  prophecy  are  derived. 

3.  Consider  the  place  which  the  symbol  employed 
in  the  prophecy  literally  occupies,  and  the  uses  which 
it  answers  in  the  system  from  which  it  has  been  se- 
lected. 

4.  Apply  the  figure,  according  to  correct  analogy, 
to  the  corresponding  part  of  that  subject  of  which 
the  prophecy  treats. 

It  is  upon  these  principles  we  explain  all  figurative 
language  wheresoever  we  find  it ;  and  the  only  thing 
taken  for  granted  in  such  interpretation  is,  that  the 
writer  understands  the  power  of  language,  and  is 
consistent  with  himself.  The  propriety  of  this  ad- 
mission will  not  be  denied,  so  far  as  it  respects  the 
scripture  style,  by  those  who  believe  that  holy  men 
of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  hy  the  Holy  Ghost 

III.  It  is  proposed  to  review  the  principal  uses 
which  the  study  of  this  prophecy  answers. 

Besides  the  particular  object  to  be  attained  by  the 

exhibition,  beforehand,  of  the  great  concerns  of  the 

Church  of  God,  as  furnishing  a  mass  of  information 

not  otherwise  within  our  reach,  prophecy  answers 

C 


18  fATRODUCTORY. 

many  important  collateral  uses.  The  blessings  pro- 
nounced by  the  divine  Spirit  upon  the  head  of  him 
who  attends  to  the  book  of  Revelation,  render  it 
certain,  that  this  part  of  the  prophetic  system  is  in- 
tended to  be  extensively  beneficial.  Experience  will 
justify  our  utmost  expectations.  Actual  knowledge 
of  the  contents  of  the  Apocalypse,  gives  a  happy  ex- 
citement to  all  our  religious  principles  of  action — 
affords  a  standing  miracle  in  support  of  the  insj)ira- 
tion  of  the  Bible — supplies  ample  proof  of  the  de- 
crees and  providence  of  God — and  furnishes  unceas- 
ing warning  to  Christians  to  separate  themselves  from 
connexion  with  the  terrible  apostacy  which  it  reveal? 
to  view. 

1.  The  book  of  Revelation  is  remarkably  calcu- 
lated to  excite  our  faith  and  patience ;  our  hope  and 
zeal  in  the  service  of  God.  The  perfections  of  Je- 
hovah ;  the  dignity,  and  excellence,  and  affections  of 
the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  man ; 
the  labours,  the  trials,  the  triumphs,  and  the  final 
safety  of  the  saints,  are  repeatedly  brought  into  view, 
and  are  held  up  in  so  clear  a  light,  that  we  are  made 
to  feel  an  interest  in  the  lot  of  the  righteous.  Our 
religion  assumes  more  of  the  social,  and  less  of  the 
selfish  character-  We  become  identified  with  the 
whole  family  of  God,  not  only  in  fact,  but  also  in  our 
own  uninterrupted  apprehension.  We  are  animated 
with  a  corresponding  magnanimity,  "  choosing  rather 
to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God  than  to  en- 
joy the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season ;  esteeming  the 
reproach  of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures 
in  Egypt." 


USE   OF   THIS    PROPHECY.  19 

To  the  "  man  of  understanding,"  this  book  illus- 
trates both  the  general  principles  of  human  action, 
and  the  course  which  he,  who  sits  enthroned  on  high, 
pursues  in  the  administration  of  providence.  It  de- 
rives a  light  from  authentic  history,  and  it  reflects  a 
light  upon  the  facts  and  the  reasonings  which  fall  with- 
in the  legitimate  province  of  the  historian.  The  mere 
knowledge  of  detached  facts  is  of  little  value.  An 
exposition  of  the  character  and  the  springs  of  human 
action,  of  their  causes  and  consequences,  and  of  the 
purposes  of  the  Governor  of  the  universe  in  relation 
to  man :  these  are  the  great  ends  which  history  sub- 
serves, and  these  ends  arp  in  the  best  manner  accom- 
plished in  the  species  of  composition  now  under 
review. 

Nor  are  its  uses  limited  to  those  who  completely 
imderstand  the  events  foretold  in  the  predictions. 
The  character  of  the  event;  the  principles  of  human 
conduct  in  the  exercise  of  which  it  is  brought  about; 
the  design  of  heaven  in  its  permission  and  control ; 
the  whole  doctrine  connected  with  it  may  be  under- 
stood, and  will  prove  interesting  and  instructive,  in- 
dependently of  a  knowledge  of  the  names  of  agents, 
and  the  proper  dates.  The  crime,  the  folly,  the 
vanity  of  men  of  high  and  of  low  degree,  are  de- 
picted. The  patience,  the  ardour,  the  benevo- 
lence of  the  virtuous,  are  held  forth  to  imitation. 
The  divine  wisdom,  and  power,  and  mercy,  and  jus- 
tice, are  exemplified ;  and  an  excitement  is  given  to 
religious  emotions  of  every  description,  by  the  ex- 
pectation of  great  events,  even  in  those  cases  in  which 
we  remain  ignorant  of  the  precise  point  in  actual  his- 


aw  mTRODUCTORY. 

tory  to  which  the  prophecy  has  respect.  The  doc- 
trines, taught  in  connexion  with  the  prediction,  of 
themselves,  afford  increase  of  useful  knowledge ;  give 
exercise  and  improvement  to  every  virtuous  princi- 
ple ;  and  thus  conduce  to  the  perfection  of  the  man 
of  God. 

2.  Prophecy  is  a  standing  miracle  in  support  of  the 
divine  inspiration  of  the  holy  scriptures. 

The  book  which  is  emphatically  called  the  Bil)le, 
is  confessedly  the  most  important  of  all  literary  pro- 
ductions. The  magnitude  of  its  object,  and  the  ex- 
cellency of  its  execution,  are  unequalled  by  any 
other  composition.  The  antiquity  of  its  history; 
the  sublimity  of  its  doctrines ;  the  purity  of  its  mo- 
rality ;  have  ever  recommended  it  to  the  attention  of 
men  of  information.  The  simplicity  and  fidelity  of 
its  descriptions,  render  it  interesting  to  literary  cu- 
riosity ;  and  the  grandeur  of  its  eloquence  will  ever 
make  it  the  companion  of  the  man  of  taste.  Satire, 
sophistry,  affected  contempt,  and  vulgar  abuse,  have 
already,  and  for  a  long  time,  employed  their  most 
potent  efforts  to  bring  the  sacred  volume  into  disre- 
pute ;  but  their  labour  is  very  vanity.  Its  intrinsic 
excellence  puts  at  defiance  the  wisdom  of  the  world. 
The  evidence  of  its  authenticity  is  copious,  and  clear, 
and  strong. 

The  Creator  of  the  world  has  endowed  its  human 
inhabitants  with  a  capacity  of  knowing  him,  their 
Lawgiver  and  their  Judge.  In  his  works,  he  reveals 
his  perfections  to  our  whole  race,  and  we  are  left 


USE    OF   THIS    PROPHECY.  fl 

without  excuse  if  we  do  not  serve  him.  In  his 
condescension  he  gave  more  ample  means  of  know- 
ledge and  correction.  He  sent  his  word  for  our  in- 
struction. Reasoning  and  argument  upon  what  is 
before  us,  is  a  slow  mean  of  acquiring  any  know- 
ledge, compared  with  conversation  with  one  of  supe- 
rior intelligence.  A  few  lectures  will  communicate 
to  a  youth  the  result  of  the  observations  and  tlie  rea- 
sonings of  a  sage.  He  who  made  the  eye  and  the 
ear,  can  communicate  knowledge  to  man,  which 
otherw  ise  must  remain  for  ever  beyond  the  reach  of 
our  faculties.  He  did  so.  "  God  in  sundry  times 
and  in  divers  manners  spake  unto  our  fathers."  He 
speaks  also  unto  us  in  his  word.  It  is  sufficiently 
attested  too,  that  it  is  his  word — that  "  we  do  not  fol- 
low a  cunningly  devised  fable." 

He  affected  the  minds  of  the  prophets  with  an 
irresistible  conviction  that  he  himself  spake  unto 
them.  It  is  in  the  poAver  of  Omnipotence  to  pre- 
clude the  possibility  of  deception.  What  he  said, 
was  a  revelation  to  them.  It  was  accompanied  Avith 
evidence  of  its  supernatural  origin.  But  how  were 
others  to  be  affected  w^ith  such  conviction  ?  Shall  our 
faith  depend  entirely  on  the  testimony  of  men?  It 
need  not,  it  ought  not,  it  must  not.  The  prophets, 
the  evangelists,  were  intelligent ;  they  were  honest ; 
they  w^ere  sincere :  but  yet  I  rest  not  my  salvation 
on  their  veracity.  Their  word,  their  oath,  the 
whole  tenor  of  their  character  in  testimony  of  the 
truth  of  theii'  writings,  is  comparatively  of  little  im- 
portance. It  will  not  make  the  infidel  a  believer. 
A  believer  never  rests  his  faith  on  such  a  foundation. 


^^  INTRODUCTORY. 

How  shall  we  know  the  scriptures  to  be  of  diTine 
insphation?  Miracles  accompanied  their  delivery. 
The  Lord  God  appeared  and  spake.  He  lent  his 
power  to  the  creature.  Effects  were  publicly  pro- 
duced, otherwise  impossible.  This  was  proof  to  all 
the  witnesses.  They  had  ground  of  faith  in  the  ac- 
companying doctrine.  But  miracles  are  past. 
Their  report  is  to  me  dependent  on  the  testimony  of 
my  fellows.  It  is  credible ;  but  not  infallible.  It  is 
not  the  fonnal  reason  of  my  faith.  The  bible  is  its 
own  witness.  It  exhibits  its  divinity  to  my  under- 
standing and  my  heart,  by  its  light,  and  by  its  power. 
The  system  of  prophecy,  and  particularly  the  book 
of  Revelation,  is  one  continued  miracle.  It  in- 
creases in  clearness  as  the  day  progresses.  It  gathers 
strength  from  the  revolutions  of  empires,  and  the 
flight  of  time.  It  shows  Jehovah  in  the  midst  of  his 
empire,  planning,  predicting,  and  accomplishing. 
Every  age  adds  new  events  to  the  records,  and  each 
additional  event  is  a  new  witness  to  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. While  we  subscribe  then,  to  the  doctrine, 
that  the  "  Spirit  of  God  bearing  witness  by  and  with 
the  scriptures  in  the  heart  of  man,  is  alone  able  fully 
to  persuade  it  that  they  are  the  very  word  of  God,"=* 
the  scripture  predictions,  in  connexion  with  their  ac- 
complishment, furnish  an  argument  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  understand  and  to  dispute. 

3.  The  Apocalyptical  prophecy  supplies  additional 
proof  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  providence  and 
decrees. 

^  Larger  Catechism. 


USE   OF    THIS    PROPHECY.  23 

God's  decree  and  providence  may  be  justly  consi- 
dered together.  The  doctrine  of  botli  is  supported 
by  the  same  argument,  and  opposed  by  the  same  per- 
sons with  tlie  same  objections.  It  cannot  be  consist- 
ently affirmed  that  he  works  without  a  plan,  or  tliat 
his  plan  will  remain  unexecuted.  Whatever  he 
brings  to  pass,  he  therefore  must  have  determined  to 
bring  to  pass ;  and  whatever  he  willed,  that  will  he 
perform.  So  far  as  his  providence  extends,  his  de- 
cree extends,  and  no  fniiher.  The  scriptures  assert 
that  this  extent  is  to  all  things.  The  universe  is  un- 
der his  government,  from  the  fall  of  a  sparrow  to  the 
whole  result  of  the  final  judgment.  This  doctrine  is 
expressed  in  one  sentence  by  the  apostle  Paul,  who 
was  not  ashamed  to  own  himself  a  Predestinarian. 
Eph.  i.  11.  "  Being  predestinated  according  to  the 
PURPOSE  of  him  who  worketh  all  thiisgs  after  the 

COUNSEL   OF    his    OWN   WILL." 

Upon  this  principle,  the  doctrine  of  prophecy  pro- 
ceeds; and  were  consistency  to  be  expected  from 
men,  we  must  conclude  that  no  man  would  ever  be- 
lieve in  prophecy  without  being  a  Predestinarian, 

From  prophecy  it  is  abundantly  evident  that  God 
foretold  some  events  as  infallibly  certain.  They 
must  have  therefore  been  foreseen  as  certain.  lo 
order  to  be  foreseen  as  certain,  the  event  must  have 
been  infallibly  fixed.  It  must  have  been  rendered 
thus  fixed  by  an  adequate  cause,  coeternal  with  the 
divine  foreknowledge.  This  cause  must  have  been 
divine;  for  no  creature  then  existed.  The  divine 
cause  however  of  the  certain  futurition  of  events 
cannot  be  better  named  than  by  calling  it  the  pui- 


24  INTRODUCTORY. 

pose  of  God, — the  counsel  of  his  will, — the  divine 
decree. 

I  admit  that  this  proves  only  that  some  events  are 
decreed.  This  however  is  enough  to  justify  against 
every  objection  the  whole  doctrine  of  God's  sove- 
reignty. These  objections,  lie  in  all  their  force, 
against  any  event  whatever  being  brought  about  ac- 
cording to  the  decree  and  by  the  providence  of  God. 

All  objections  to  the  doctrine  are  resolved  into 
these  two,  "  It  is  inconsistent  with  human  liberty." — 
"  It  is  inconsistent  with  God's  righteousness."  But 
it  is  no  more  inconsistent  in  one  case  than  in  another. 
He  who  can  secure,  without  destroying  moral  agen- 
cy, or  doing  unrighteousness,  the  complete  fulfilment 
of  any  one  of  his  own  predictions,  can  certainly  ac- 
complish upon  the  same  principles  all  his  purposes — 
can  work  all  tilings  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  will. 
The  fulfilment  of  prophecy  manifests  that,  in  many 
instances,  this  is  in  fact  the  case;  and  of  course  proves 
that  there  is  no  valid  objection  against  the  doctrine. 

Why  then  deceive  yourselves,  ye  professors  of  the 
Christian  faith,  who  deny  the  divine  decrees  ?  why 
deceive  yourselves  by  doubtful  reasonings  against 
this  doctrine.  You  plan,  you  contrive,  you  employ 
your  influence,  so  extensively,  so  far  into  futurity,  as 
is  in  your  power.  Can  you  at  the  same  time  be  re- 
luctant in  granting,  to  your  God  and  Saviour,  the 
right  of  settling  throughout  his  empire  what  he  shall 
do  with  the  works  of  his  hands  ?  Will  you  not  trust 
his  equity  without  setting  limits  to  his  plans  ?  Can 
you  not  maintain  human  liberty  but  at  the  expense 
of  placing  the  Almighty  under  restraints,  as  if  he 


USE  OF   THIS  PROPHECY.  25 

could  not  govern  man  without  destroying  his  ra- 
tional nature  ?  Examine,  I  l^seech  you,  the  scheme 
of  prophecy.  There  you  will  be  able  to  see  the 
event  certain;  the  decree  unalterably  fixed;  the 
providence  of  God  extending  to  every  thing ;  man 
still  a  free  agent,  acting  voluntarily,  and  in  all  cases, 
both  accountable  for  his  conduct,  and  also  overruled 
for  accomplishing  the  divine  purpose.  You  will  see 
all  this,  not  as  disputed  theory,  but  as  matter  of  fact. 
You  will  rejoice  that  the  universe  is  under  such 
government,  and  will  say.  Thy  nill  be  done  on  earth 
as  it  is  in  heaven. 

4.  The  book  of  Revelation  is  useful,  in  furnishing 
a  continual  warning  to  Christians  to  separate  them- 
selves from  all  antichristian  connexions. 

It  exhibits  the  grand  apostacy  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire in  all  its  hoiTors.  It  points  out  its  unceasing 
hostility,  to  the  mediatorial  empire  of  our  Saviour, 
during  the  remarkable  period  of  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  years,  so  often  specified  in  this  book.  It  pro- 
claims in  language  too  plain  to  be  misunderstood, 
the  tyranny,  the  hypocrisy,  and  the  persecuting  spi- 
rit of  the  nations  and  the  churches — of  the  beast, 
and  of  the  false  prophet.  It  warns  the  saints  of  their 
danger;  points  out  their  condition  and  their  duty; 
and  demands  from  them  a  faithful  testunony  against 
the  prevailing  conuptions.  "  And  I  heard  another 
voice  from  heaven,  saying,  come  out  of  her,  my 
people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  of  her  sins,  and  that 
ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues." 
D 


28  'INTRODUCTORY. 

Such  is  the  language,  my  brethren,  of  this  prophe* 
cy  to  you.  It  calls  upon  you  to  have  no  com- 
munion with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness.  It 
exhorts  you  not  to  embark  your  affections,  your 
hopes,  or  your  peace  of  mind  in'  the  cause  of  any 
^art  of  the  antichristian  policy.  It  invites  you  to 
repose,  in  confidence  of  the  divine  protection,  under 
the  shadow  of  his  wings.  It  assiu-es  you  that  it  is 
both  happy  and  safe  to  know  and  to  do  the  will  of 
your  heavenly  Father,  as  expressed  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse. "  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and  they  that 
hear  the  words  of  this  prophecy,  and  keep  those 
things  which  are  written  therein.  For  the  time  is  at 
hand." 


'-■#«f  v1Pf<Sfc*AJHtll^» ' 


AN  OUTLINE 


COXTEJ^TS  OF  THE  JiPOCJiLYPSE. 


LECTURE  II. 


Kev.  i.  l9....Writ€  the  things  which  thou  hast  seen,  and 
the  things  which  are,  and  the  things  which  shall  be 
hereafter. 

A  HIS  commandment  was  addressed  by  Jesus  Christ 
to  the  apostle  John,  called  in  the  title  of  the  book, 
John  the  Divine.  The  name  ©£oAoya«,  the  Theolo- 
gian or  Divine,  was  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  Fa- 
thers in  a  peculiar  sense,  because  he,  more  than  any 
other  of  tlie  inspired  writers  of  the  New  Testament, 
discussed  the  sublime  mysteries  of  Christian  Theolo- 
gy, and  particularly  asserted  and  enforced  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ's  divinity.  Of  hun  too  it  was  said, 
"  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved.*'  Unto  him  were 
granted  the  visions  which  are  Avritten  in  this  book. 
The  Revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  was  signified  unto  his 
servant  John,  who  bare  record  of  all  things  that  he 
saw.* 

^  Verees  1,  2, 


28  GENERAL   OUTLINE. 

This  venerable  man,  who  had  lived  in  habits  of  the 
nearest  intimacy  with  his  Saviour ;  had  witnessed  his 
private  friendships  and  devotions ;  had  leaned  on  his 
bosom  at  the  last  supper ;  and  who  had  stood  by  his 
cross  while  he  suffered  death  for  our  redemption ; 
now  remained  alone,  the  last  of  the  apostles,  to  in- 
struct by  inspiration  the  rising  churches.  Far  ad- 
vanced in  years,  with  the  fervour  of  youthful  zeal, 
mellowed  by  the  experience  of  age,  he  cherished  for 
the  numerous  believers  of  the  first  century,  the  feel- 
ings of  an  affectionate  parent.  His  distinguished 
usefulness  provoked  from  the  enemies  of  Christianity 
a  malevolence  which  neither  his  mildness  of  man- 
ners, nor  his  hoary  hairs  could  disarm.  John  was 
persecuted. 

Domitian,  the  Roman  emperor,  the  degenerate  son 
of  the  amiable  Vespasian,  was  a  man  of  ambition  and 
blood.  He  succeeded  to  the  Purple  at  the  death  of 
his  brother  Titus,  and  surpassed,  if  possible,  Nero 
himself,  in  baseness  and  cruelty.  By  his  orders,  a 
war  of  extermination  was  waged  against  the  Chris- 
tians, and  the  apostle  John  after  a  series  of  other 
sufferings,  was  banished  into  the  Isle  which  was  then 
called  PatmoSy  for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus  Christ.^  This  took  place  in  the  fif- 
teenth year  of  the  reign  of  Domitian,  A.  D.  95. 
being  the  90th  year  of  the  apostle's  age,  and  62 
years  after  the  crucifixion  of  our  Saviour. 

Patmos,  since  called  Patino  or  Palmosa,  lies  up- 
on the  coast  of  Asia,  not  far  from  the  Island  of  Sa- 

'*  Verse  P. 


THE   WRITER.  29 

mos,  in  that  arm  of  the  Mediterranean  which  stretches 
to  the  northward,  between  Europe  and  Asia,  and 
bears  the  name  of  the  Archipelago,  or  ^gean  Sea. 
This  island  is  one  of  the  most  barren  spots  that  can 
>vell  be  imagined :  even  at  the  present  day,  notwith- 
standing the  industry  of  the  Caloyer  monks,  who  at^ 
tempt  its  cultivation,  and  have  consecrated  its  rocks 
to  superstition.  It  was  then  a  desert.  Here  the 
persecutor  hoped  that  the  exile  would  die  of  famine. 
He  was,  however,  disappointed. 

The  same  God  who  supported  Moses  and  Elijah 
for  many  weeks  together  without  food,  revealed 
himself  to  the  beloved  disciple ;  and,  by  his  power, 
supported  his  body,  while  by  the  Revelation  made 
to  him,  his  solitude  was  sweetened,  and  his  seclu- 
sion from  society  made  a  distinguished  blessing  to 
the  church  of  Christ. 

In  the  early  ages  of  the  church  there  was  no  diji- 
pute  about  the  r.uthenticity  of  the  book  of  Revela- 
tion, nor  any  one  to  deny  that  tlie  apostle  John  was 
the  writer.  AVhen,  however,  in  process  of  time,  the 
question  of  the  millennium  became  a  subject  of  vio- 
lent controversy,  the  Apocalypse  itself  was  attacked. 
The  millenarians  rested  their  doctrine  upon  the  20th 
chapter  of  this  book ;  and  their  antagonists,  in  pur-, 
suit  of  victory  more  than  truth,  denied  the  canonical 
authority  of  a  work  which  seemed  to  lend  its  aid  to 
what  they  deemed  a  dangerous  hypothesis.  The  ob- 
jections thus  raised  were  handed  down  to  succeeding 
ages.  Unsanctified  literature  takes  pride  in  collect- 
ing and  repeating  them, 


30  GENERAL   OUTLINE. 

The  argument  for  rejecting  from  the  canon  the 
book  of  Revelation,  is  stated  in  full  force  by  the 
learned  Michaelis,  in  the  very  elaborate  work.  An 
Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  and  is  convincing- 
ly refuted  by  Mr.  Woodhouse,  in  his  Introduction 
to  a  New  Translation  of  the  Apocalypse.  It  is  a  re- 
mark very  frequently  and  very  justly  already 
made,  that  no  part  of  the  sacred  volume  is  less 
dependent  upon  historical  testimony  than  this  book. 
Its  own  prophecies,  fulfilled  and  fulfilling,  proclaim 
its  divine  origin.  It  is  nevertheless  true,  that  the 
external  evidence  of  its  authenticity  is  various, 
clear,  and  conclusive. 

The  testimony  of  Iren^us  would  be  decisive  in 
a  court  of  justice.  He  was  a  man  of  intelligence 
and  veracity.  His  opportunity  of  knowing  the  ti-uth 
upon  this  subject  cannot  be  disputed.  He  was  born 
soon  after  the  date  of  the  Apocalypse.  He  was  by 
birth  a  Greek,  and  brought  up  under  the  ministry  of 
the  celebrated  Polycarp,  who  was  cotemporary  with 
the  apostle  John,  and  actually  settled  in  Smyrna, 
one  of  those  Asian  churches  to  which  an  epistle  is 
addressed  in  the  book  of  Revelation.  Irenaeus  re- 
moved from  Asia,  and  was  settled  in  Lyons,  the  se- 
cond city  of  France  for  commerce  and  opulence. 
He  maintained  after  ids  removal  a  constant  corres- 
pondence with  the  Asiatic  churches.  In  his  own 
character  he  was  confessedly  learned,  prudent,  and 
pious.  He  made  the  Apocalypse  his  particular  stu- 
dy, comparing,  the  several  manuscript  copies  of  it, 
and  appealing  in  case  of  disputed  passages,  to  the 
testimony  of  apostolical  men. 


'  CONTENTS.  31 

Irenseus  in  many  instances  ascribes  this  book  to 
**  John  the  evangelisty  the  disciple  of  the  Lord;  that 
John  who  leaned  on  his  Lord's  breast  at  the  last  svp- 
per ,"  and  expressly  says  of  the  Revelation,  "  it  was 
not  seen  a  long  time  ago,  hit  almost  in  our  own  age, 
toward  the  end  of  Domitian's  reign.''^ 

This  witness  is  supported  by  many  others,t  yea, 
Polycarp  himself,  an  auditor  of  the  apostle  John,  and 
a  minister  of  the  church  of  Smyrna,  begins  the  so- 
lemn prayer  which  he  uttered  at  the  stake,  when 
about  to  seal  by  martyrdom  the  testimony  which  he 
held,  with  the  words  of  Rev.  xi.  17.  if^«?n, «  ©eos,  i 
n«»7ox^«7<wf .  I  offer  no  apology  for  prolonging  thus  far 
the  introduction  of  my  discourse.  It  appeared  to  me 
necessary  to  say  so  much  about  the  writer  of  the 
Apocalypse,  previously  to  laying  before  you 

AN   OUTLINE   OF    ITS    CONTENTS. 

The  general  arrangement  of  its  several  parts  hi 
laid  down  in  the  command  of  our  Lord,  which  is 
now  the  subject  of  discussion. —  Write  the  things 

%VHICH    THOU    HAST    SEEN,  and  the   THINGS  WHICH  ARE, 

and  tlie  things  which  shall  be  hereafter. 

Correct  method  is  important  in  every  pui-sult. 
Science  cannot  exist  without  it.  A  few  facts  on  any 
subject  under  consideration,  regularly  classified,  fur- 
tiish  more  real  information  than  thousands  assembled 

*  hen.  lib.  iv.  350.     f  See  Woodhouse's  Introduction,  &c. 


3S  GENERAL  OUTLINE. 

without  order,  and  without  discrimination.  This 
principle,  so  well  attested  by  the  several  branches 
of  natural  and  moral  science,  ought  not  to  be  neg- 
lected by  the  expositor  of  the  Apocalyptical  visions. 
Here,  method  is  necessary  to  prevent  confusion,  to 
ascertain  events,  and  to  understand  the  mysteries  of 
this  book. 

Several  excellent  Commentators  infer  from  the 
words  of  my  text  a  threefold  division  of  the  general 
contents  of  this  book.  According  to  this  arrange- 
ment, "  the  things  which  thou  hast  seen,"  «  «'^f«,  are 
lunited  to  the  contents  of  this  chapter,  from  the  12th 
to  the  1 7th  verse,  and  constitute  Part  I.  of  the 
whole  book.  Part  II.  embraces  "  the  things  which 
are,"  «  fo-',  the  present  condition  of  seven  churches 
of  Asia  Minor,  addressed  and  described  in  the  second 
and  third  chapters.  Part  III.  by  far  the  largest, 
respects  "  the  things  which  shall  be,"  «  i«^£AA£<  ytmrUt, 
including  the  remaining  part  of  the  book  from  the 
fourth  chapter  to  the  end. 

This  arrangement  appears  to  me  perfectly  cor- 
rect. I  have  attended  to  all  that  Lord  Napier,  Dr. 
Johnston,  Mr.  Woodhouse,  and  several  other  learned 
men,  have  offered  in  behalf  of  a  twofold  division, 
without  being  convinced  of  its  propriety.  I  readily 
acknowledge  that  the  original  text  will  admit  their 
translation — "Write  the  things  which  thou  seest, 
even  the  things  which  are,  and  the  things  which  are 
about  to  be ;"  but  it  does  not  require  it ;  and  the 
standard  version  is  in  this  instance  more  congenial 
with  the  context.     The  apostle  had  already,  under 


THE   PHRASE    "IN   THE    SPIRIT.'*  33 

the  influence  of  inspiration,  seen  things  worthy  of 
being  recorded.  Descriptive  addresses  to  several 
churches  then  existing,  were  about  to  be  delivered 
to  him,  and  both  these,  as  well  as  the  predictions  of 
future  events,  are  actually  written  in  this  book. 
The  fact  is  the  best  commentary  on  the  precept. 
John  did  as  he  was  commanded. 

Verse  10th,  He  was  in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day — 
the  Christian  Sabbath.  Deprived  of  the  ordinances 
of  public  worship,  in  which  he  had  long  taken  de- 
light ;  this  first  day  of  the  week  provided  eminent 
communion  with  his  Redeemer,  and  furnished  means 
of  improvement  to  the  church  of  God,  in  a  degree 
superior  to  any  thing  which  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  his  own  sermons  or  exhortations,  to  any 
congregation  in  which  he  would  have  been  labouring 
that  day,  had  not  the  power  of  persecution  prevail- 
ed. Thus  doth  God  make  the  wrath  of  man  to 
praise  him. 

In  the  concerns  of  life,  we  are  limited  in  the  re- 
ception and  communication  of  our  ideas  to  the  ex- 
ercise of  our  faculties  through  the  medium  of  bo- 
dily organs.  Therefore  are  we  said  to  be  in  the  body. 
But  when  the  Spuit  of  God  communicates  what  is 
independent  of  our  own  organs,  and  by  a  superna- 
tural power  supersedes  the  immediate  exercise  of 
our  bodily  senses,  it  may  be  with  propriety  said,  we 
are  in  the  Spirit.  Tlie  vision  of  bliss,  which  the 
apostle  Paul  had  in  heaven,  2  Cor.  xii.  3.  was  of  such 
a  description  as  that  he  could  not  positively  say, 
whether  he  received  it  through  the  medium  of  the 
E 


34  GENERAL  dUTLIOTiJ. 

natural  organs  of  perception,  or  in  the  same  mannei^ 
in  which  disembodied  spirits  communicate  ideas  to 
one  another ;  and  he  accordingly  says,  whether  in  the 
body  or  out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell  j  God  knoweth. 
To  be  in  the  Spirit,  to  have  the  Spirit  in  its,  and  to  be 
inspired,  are  terms  of  the  same  signification.^ 

That  inspiration  which  the  apostle  had  in  Patmos, 
is  chiefly  of  the  species  called  vision.  The  Holy 
Spirit  presented  objects  to  his  understanding,  pre- 
cisely as  they  would  have  been  perceived,  if  actual- 
ly addressed  to  his  sense  of  sight.  The  visions  were, 
however,  usually  accompanied  with  suitable  expla- 
nation, and  both  are  found  in  the  first  as  well  as  the 
last  part  of  the  Apocalypse. 

So  soon  as  John  was  inspired,  he  Avas  directed  to 
write  this  book,  giving  an  account  of  all  his  visions, 
verse  11.  What  thou  seest  write  in  a  hook,  and  send  it 
unto  the  seven  churches  which  are  in  Asia. 

This  is  the  general  command.  Under  it  the 
Apocalypse  was  written,  and  copies  were  transmitted 
to  the  several  churches,  o  fixs^sa,  y^a-^ov,  write  what- 
soever thou  seest — all  the  visions  of  inspiration. 
Whatsoever  is  revealed  to  thee,  write.  The  com- 
mand to  wi'ite  is  repeated  verse  19,  and  the  i  /3A??r£»?, 
the  whole  contents  of  the  Apocalypse  divided  into 
three  parts.  The  first  part,  "  what  thou  hast  seen" — 
«  eiSci,  is  of  course  limited  to  that  which  is  contained 
between  this  and  the  former  command.  It  is  that 
part  of  the  visions  of  this  book  which  had  been  al- 
ready vouchsafed  to  the  inspired  writer. 

^  Matt.  xxii.  J3.     Ezek.  ii.  '2.     Rev.  iv.  2.     Joliuston  iu  loco. 


PART  I.  ao 


PART  I. 


The  vision  of  the  Son  of  Man,  the  Candlesticks,  ami 
the  Stars. 

This  general  division  is  very  slioil.  It  is  contained 
in  the  first  chapter,  from  the  12th  to  the  17th  verse. 
It  is,  however,  a  very  interesting  vision,  and  happily 
introductory  to  each  of  the  other  general  divisions 
of  the  Apocalypse.  While  it  displays  in  a  remark- 
able manner  the  dignity  of  Cln'ist's  person,  and  the 
extent  of  his  authority  over  things  visible  and  in- 
visible, it  furnishes  an  application  of  symbolical  lan- 
guage eminently  useful  in  illustrating  the  succeed- 
ing prophecies.  "  I  saw  seven  golden  candlesticks ; 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  candlesticks,  one  like 
unto  the  Son  of  man,  clothed  with  a  garment  down 
to  the  foot,  and  girt  about  the  paps  with  a  golden 
girdle.  His  head  and  his  hairs  were  white  like  wool, 
as  white  as  snow ;  and  his  eyes  were  as  a  flame  of 
fire ;  and  his  feet  like  unto  fine  brass,  as  if  they  burn- 
ed in  a  furnace ;  and  his  voice  as  the  sound  of  many 
waters.  And  he  had  in  his  right  hand  seven  stars ; 
and  out  of  his  mouth  went  a  sharp  two-edged  sword ; 
and  his  countenance  was  as  the  sun  shineth  in  his 
strength." 

In  this  striking  representation,  the  Redeemer  of 
the  church  appears  exalted  above  all  creatures; 
God-man,  preserving  and  sanctifying  his  churches, 
supporting  and  directing  the  angels  or  ministers, 
and  promoting  the  glory  of  the  Godhead  by  secu- 


3^  PART    II. 

ring  our  salvation.  The  scenery  is  borrowed,  part- 
ly, from  the  system  of  the  universe,  as  in  the  men- 
tion of  sun  and  stars ;  and  partly,  from  the  Old  Tes- 
tament temple  service,  wherein  the  high  priest  and 
the  golden  candlesticks  prefigured  Messiah,  and  the 
several  churches.  The  phraseology,  and  the  appli- 
cation of  it,  coincide  with  the  predictions  of  Daniel, 
chap.  X.  The  churches  and  ministers  are  said  to  be 
seven  in  number,  because  it  was  intended  to  make  a 
special  communication  of  the  Apocalypse  to  seven 
particular  churches;  and  because  also  stvtn  is 
a  symbol  of  completeness,  both  among  Jews  and 
Gentiles ;  and,  in  this  sense,  repeatedly  employed  in 
the  work  which  we  are  considering.*" 

PART  II. 

Jbescription  of  the  actual  condition  of  the  Seven 
Churches. 

This  part  of  the  Apocalypse  embraces  the  second 
and  third  chapters.  It  is  longer  than  the  first,  but  it 
is  short  compared  with  the  third  part.  The  first 
part  served  not  only  to  give  a  general  and  happy 
view  of  the  Mediator,  in  connexion  with  his  church 
and  her  ministers  universally,  but  also  to  show  the 
particular  interest  which  he  had  in  each  community, 
as  exemplified  in  the  case  of  seven  adjacent  cities 
in  Asia  Minor.     This  part,  by  describing  the  reli- 


*^  The  number  SEVEfr,  as  a  symbol,  Avill  be  more  largely  explain 
ed  hereafter. 


GENERAL    OUTLINE.  37 

^ious  state  of  several  well-known  churches,  serves 
to  illustrate  the  general  principle  of  Christ's  super- 
intendency,  as  well  as  to  show  in  all  ages  the  things 
in  ecclesiastical  bodies,  of  wliich  he  approves  or  dis- 
approves. An  actual  description,  moreover,  of 
these  churches  which  are  here  addressed,  served  in 
the  first  instance,  both  to  procure  a  ready  reception 
for  this  inspired  book,  and  also  to  confirm  the  faith 
of  the  primitive  Christians,  in  a  work  which  por- 
trayed with  so  much  fidelity  and  accuracy  the  state 
of  religion  in  the  cities  to  which  it  referred.  Thus, 
by  a  declaration  of  general  principles  in  the  first 
place,  and  by  a  delineation  of  existing  facts  in  the 
second,  the  way  is  prepared  for  entering  upon  that 
prospective  history,  which  in  the  third  place,  consti- 
tutes the  principal  part  of  the  Apocalypse. 

The  seven  epistles,  now  under  consideration,  are 
accordingly  to  be  viewed  as  history.  They  are  of 
course,  at  present,  as  interesting  as  ever.  They  il- 
lustrate doctrine,  they  inculcate  obedience,  now,  as 
well  as  in  the  first  or  second  century.  The  charac- 
ter in  them  described,  and  the  treatment  due  to  it, 
from  the  moral  Governor  of  the  universe,  will  always 
be  profitable  subjects  of  investigation.  In  this  point 
of  view,  therefore,  these  epistles  may  be  said  to 
have  a  prospective  reference.  The  thirig  that  hath 
been,  it  is  that  which  shall  be  ;  and  that  which  is  donCy 
is  that  which  shall  be  done.  To  the  churches  of 
America,  of  Africa,  and  of  Europe,  as  Avell  as  those 
of  Asia,  they  will  be  applicable,  so  far  as  their 
character  corresponds  with  that  which  is  given  in 
this  book.  I  am  not,  however,  capable  of  perceiv- 
ing any  advantage  to  be  derived  from  giving  to  this 


38  PART    II. 

part  of  the  Apocalypse  the  title  of  prophecies.  It 
is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  straining  a  point  without 
an  adequate  object. 

There  have  not  been  wanting  commentators  who 
class  these  seven  epistles  among  the  predictions  of 
future  events.  Such  interpreters  represent  each  of 
the  Asiatic  churches  mentioned  in  the  Revelation, 
not  as  an  ecclesiastical  body,  then  in  fact  existing ; 
but  as  a  symbol,  either  of  a  particular  era  of  the 
christian  world,  or  of  some  great  section  of  the 
Church  of  God.  AVith  the  aid  of  a  little  fancy,  and 
some  ingenuity,  of  which  learned  men  are  always 
fond,  the  descriptions  of  the  second  and  third  chap- 
ters are  converted  into  so  many  allegories,  and  are 
applied  accordingly  either  to  seven  great  periods  in 
the  progress  of  Christianity,  or  to  seven  grand  di- 
visions of  Christendom.  I  have  heard,  upon  this 
principle,  the  church  of  Philadelphia  represented, 
by  one  learned  friend,  as  the  type  of  the  Millenni- 
um, and  by  another,  profoundly  versed  in  allegory, 
as  the  type  of  the  present  state  of  religion  in  the 
United  States  of  America. 

This  mode  of  interpretation  is  liable  to  many  ob- 
jections. 

1 .  Upon  this  principle  it  would  be  impossible  to 
determine,  what,  in  scripture,  is  history,  and  what, 
parable  or  allegory.  There  is  no  toleration  except 
in  cases  of  necessity,  for  deviating  from  the  literal 
and  obvious  meaning. 

2.  There  were,  when  the  Apocalypse  was  written, 
situate  in  the  Lesser  Asia,  seven  christian  churches, 


GEIVERAL   OUTLINE.  39 

in  cities  of  the  names  set  down  in  tliis  book ;  and 
there  is  no  intimation  in  tlie  book  itself,  that  these 
were  not  the  communities  intended  to  be  addressed. 

3.  There  is  nothing  in  the  whole  contents  of  these 
epistles  to  forbid  a  literal  interpretation  of  them,  as 
applicable  to  the  actual  churches  of  Asia. 

4.  The  text  of  this  discourse  certainly  distinguish- 
es   THE    THINGS    THAT   ARE,    frOUl    THE    THINGS  WHICH 

SHALL  BE  hereafter — the  description  of  present  con- 
dition, from  the  prediction  of  future  events.  But 
tliere  is  no  history  left,  if  we  include  the  seven  epis- 
tles among  the  prophecies.  By  comparing  chap.  i. 
19.  with  chap.  iv.  1.  it  will  readily  appear  that  the 
prophetical  paift;  of  the  Revelation  does  not  com- 
mence until  the  fourth  chapter.  Therefore,  these 
seven  epistles  are  narrative. 

.'j.  There  is  no  key  whatever  for  dividing  time  into 
seven  distinct  periods,  bearing  any  resemblance  to 
these  epistles.  They  cannot  be  made  to  apply  to 
the  seven  *  periods  into  which  the  prophetic  part  is 
divided.  History  indeed  aftbrds  such  a  variety  of 
views  of  different  ages,  that  ingenuity  can  devise 
some  periods  resembling  the  Asian  churches.  But 
each  prophecy  has  a  key  of  its  own,  and  we  are  not 
to  indulge  fancy  in  accommodating  history  to  predic- 
tion. No  such  key  is  found  in  the  second  and  third 
chapters. 

*^-  That  the  prophetic  period  is  seven-fold  will  afterwards  ap- 
pear. 


40  PART   III. 

PART  III. 

Visions  of  Futurity. 

This  part  of  the  Apocalypse  commences  with 
the  fourth  chapter,  as  is  distinctly  announced  by  a 
voice  from  heaven,  accompanied,  too,  with  an  im- 
mediate influence  of  the  divine  Spirit.  After  this  I 
looked,  and,  behold,  a  door  rvas  opened  in  heaven :  and 
the  first  voice  which  I  heard  was  as  it  were  of  a  trum- 
pet talking  with  me  j  which  said.  Come  up  hither,  and  I 
will  show  thee  the  things  which  must  he  hereafter. 
And  immediately  1  was  in  the  Spirit.  From  these 
words  it  is  obvious,  that  the  general  division,  "  the 
things  which  shall  be  hereafter,"  is  not  only  justi- 
fied, but  also  distinctly  stated  to  begin  with  the 
vision,  narrated  chap.  iv.  and  v. 

It  is  to  this  part  that  I  design  to  turn,  in  a  more 
particular  manner,  your  attention.  It  contains  an 
outline  of  history  from  the  apostolical  age  to  the 
end  of  the  world. 

The  several  prophecies  were  revealed  to  the 
apostle  John  in  fourteen  separate  visions.  These 
were  successively  vouchsafed  to  him  with  all  the 
necessary  means  of  understanding  them,  and  of  faith- 
fully narrating  them  for  our  instruction.^  Three 
of  these  visions  relate  to  the  condition  of  the  church 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth  generally,  and  to 

*  Johnston. 


LINE   OF    CONNEXION.  41 

the  opposition  made  from  various  quarters  against 
true  religion.  One  of  them  respects  the  millennium, 
and  one  the  state  of  future  glory.  Nine  are  em- 
ployed in  describing  that  most  perplexing  and  dis- 
tressing period,  which  has  usually  been  known  in  the 
church  by  the  designation  Antichristian. 

These  visions  do  not  exactly  pursue  a  chronologi- 
cal order.  There  is  indeed  a  general  respect  to  the 
progress  of  time ;  but,  in  order  to  show  the  connex- 
ion of  events,  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  attend  to 
the  chain  of  cause  and  effect,  until  each  great  sub- 
ject of  discussion  should  be  fully  brought  into  view. 
The  prophecy,  after  this,  returns  to  tlie  considera- 
tion of  other  important  subjects,  whicli  may  have 
been  either  cotemporary  with  the  former,  or  even 
prior  to  it  in  the  order  of  time. 

It  appears  to  me,  that  to  follow  these  visions  in 
the  order  in  which  they  stand,  and  so  to  unfold  their 
meaning,  would  be  an  excellent  method  of  explain- 
ing the  prophecies  of  the  Apocalypse.  Such  an 
arrangement  would  combine  simplicity  and  novelty, 
with  a  more  formal  developement  of  the  peculiar 
imagery  of  the  Apocalyptical  style  than  any  other 
method  of  discussion.  So  far  as  I  know,  such  an 
arrangement  has  not  been  adopted  by  any  com- 
mentator. The  order  of  the  several  chapters,  and 
the  chronological  order,  have  most  frequently  been 
pursued  by  commentators,  except  in  those  instances 
in  which  dissertations  have  been  given  upon  the  se- 
veral special  subjects  which  appeared  to  an  author 
most  interesting;. 

F 


42  GENERAL  OUTLINE. 

The  chain  of  connexion,  however,  laid  down  in 
the  Revelation  itself,  the  history  of  the  public  interests 
of  true  religion  in  the  Roman  Empire^  is  the  one 
which  I  have  determined  to  follow.  It  connects  the 
predictions  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets,  particu- 
larly those  of  Daniel,  respecting  the  latter  days,  with 
the  prospective  history  given  in  this  book.  It  binds 
together  in  one  continuous  whole,  extending  through 
a  long  succession  of  ages,  the  leading  events  of 
the  christian  world ;  and  it  preserves  the  chronolo- 
gical arrangement  sufficiently  distinct  for  all  useful 
purposes.  It  affords  the  best  opportunity  of  deve- 
loping the  great  moral  principles  of  social  order 
among  the  children  of  men  with  precision,  perspi- 
cuity, and  comprehension.  It  forms  the  best  Index 
for  the  study  of  all  authentic  history.  And  it  fur- 
nishes to  men  of  extended  views,  and  liberal  senti- 
ment, the  most  abundant  motives  for  pursuing  in 
the  present  age  a  general  course  of  policy,  cha- 
racterised by  magnanimity,  intelligence,  and  integri- 
ty. It,  accordingly,  by  holding  up,  in  a  steady  and 
clear  lights  suitable  examples,  both  for  warning  and 
for  imitation,  tends,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  to  cor- 
rect the  practice  of  accommodation  and  shuffling, 
by  which,  the  seA^eral  actors  upon  the  great  theatre 
of  the  ecclesiastical  world  attempt  to  render  the 
pursuits  of  religion  subordinate  to  personal  ease,  or 
elevation,  or  avarice. 

The  principle  which  is  always  obvious,  and  which 
gives  unity  to  the  whole  of  the  prophetic  declara- 
tions is,  THE  CONNEXION  BETWEEN  THE  CHRISTIAN 
RELIGION,  AND  SOCIAL  ORDER  IN  THE    HUMAN    FAMILY. 


LINE   OF    CONNEXION.  4S 

This  grand  principle,  interesting  in  the  highest 
degree  to  every  Philantluopist,  worthy  of  the  most 
minute  attention  of  the  christian  divine  and  the 
philosophic  civilian,  is  selected  by  the  prophet 
Daniel,  and  after  his  exhibition  of  it,  is  more  largely 
illustrated,  in  its  various  bearings  upon  the  actual 
state  of  the  nations  of  the  earth,  in  the  predictions 
of  the  book  of  Revelation. 

The  prophet  Daniel  takes  it  up  from  that  time 
in  which  the  forms  of  social  order,  divinely  pre- 
scribed for  the  nation  of  the  Hebrews,  were  de- 
stroyed by  the  Chaldean  conqueror,  and  illustrates 
its  history  during  a  long  period,  principally  of  trial 
and  pain,  until  the  time  of  the  millennium.  During 
the  whole  of  this  long  period,  consistmg  of  about 
t  wo  thousand  five  hundred  years  from  the  subjuga- 
tion of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  prophet 
exhibits  the  church  of  God  in  a  state  of  depression ; 
and  the  character  of  the  kingdoms  of  this  world, 
hostile  to  the  moral  principles  w^hich  Jehovah  com- 
mands the  sons  of  men  to  observe  in  their  collective 
as  well  as  in  their  individual  capacity. 

The  triumphs  of  unrighteousness  over  religion 
and  morality,  and  over  the  peace,  the  persons,  and 
the  rights  of  men,  especially  of  religious  men,  are 
.  lepicted  in  the  page  of  inspiration  with  a  pencil  as 
I  old  as  it  is  correct.  The  governments  of  the  earth 
are,  so  far  as  they  have  any  proximity  to  the  church 
of  the  Most  High,  represented  by  him  who  best 
knows  their  character,  as  both  ineligious  and  oppres- 
sive. Of  these,  four  great  successive  systems  are  de- 
scribed in  the  second  and  seventh  cha])ters  of  Daniel, 


44  GENERAL   OUTLINE. 

as,  in  turn,  obtaining  universal  empire,  and  together 
occupying  tlie  whole  time.  A  wild  bcasty  ©»/>«)v,  is  the 
fit  symbol  of  their  character.  It  is  the  symbol  of  im- 
morality, impiety,  and  oppression.  A  wild  beast  is 
ungovernable,  and  prone  to  destroy.  These  em- 
pires are  disobedient  to  God,  and  destructive  to  man. 
They  appear  in  the  following  order. 

Beast,  is  the  prophetical  symbol  of  an  immoral 

TYRANNICAL  POWER.* 

DanieFs  Four  Beasts  are  the  great  Universal  Empires, 
as  follow. 

1.  The  Chaldean  empire,  from  the  cap-  |  years 
ture  of  Jerusalem  to  that  of  Babylon,  )  ^^ 

2.  Medo-Persian,  208 

3.  Grecian,  266 

4.  The  Roman  empue  under  its  various ^ 
forms,  from  the  time  Pompey  reduced  f 

Jerusalem  until  the  close  of  the  seventh  C      

yial,t  )      2454 

*  In  this  all  Coninientatois  are  agreed,  ©jj/xav.  Wild  Beast,  ought 
to  be  carefully  distinguished  from  Z«y«v,  Living  Being,  Chap.  iv. 
The  former  word  is  by  the  Greek  writers  peculiarly  applied  to  ve- 
pomous  animals.  Parkhurst  thinks  the  Greek  ^*]^  may  be  derived 
from  "ij'n  lo  divide  or  tear.  Vossius  derives  it  from  the  Heb.  N13 
to  run  wild,  a  wild  ass,  whence  also  the  Ij^imf cries,  ferox,  and  the 
English  FERonous.  In  Acts  xxviii,  4.  it  denotes  a  Viper.  The  apos- 
tle Paul,  quoting  the  Poet  Epimenides,  Tit.  i.  12.  applies  the  word 
lo  the  inhabitants  of  Crete.  And  Suicer,  in  his  Thesaurus,  shows 
Jhat  it  is  usual  with  the  Greek  and  Roman  writers  to  apply  such 

t  Calmet's  Dictionary,  Supplement  on  the  word  prophecy. 


SUMMARY.  4a. 

Before  the  Revelation  was  given  to  John  tlie  Di- 
vine, the  fourth  beast  of  Daniel,  or  the  Roman  em- 
pire, had  obtained  full  power.  The  propliecies  of 
this  book  of  course  respect  the  general  principle, 
viz.  The  connexion  between  the  Christian  religion^  and 
social  order,  chiefly,  as  it  refers  to  the  Roman 
power,  and  to  the  state  of  the  church  within  the 
bounds  of  that  astonishing  empire.  This  considera- 
tion is  an  index  to  the  several  visions.  It  must 
not  be  forgotten  by  the  expositor  of  prophecy.  By 
far  the  greatest  part  of  the  Apocalypse  relates  to 
this  object.  The  seals,  and  the  trumpets,  and  the 
VIALS,  constitute  the  great  chain  which  connects  all 
the  prophecies  into  a  regular  system  in  explanation 
of  the  principle  stated  above.  And  all  these  have 
respect  to  the  Roman  empire.  They  afford  an  en- 
larged history  of  the  fourth  beast,  and  its  opposition 
to  the  christian  church. 

The  order  which  I  am  to  follow  in  these  lectures 
is  now  sketched  out.  1  shall  begin  the  exposition  of 
the  Apocalyptical  predictions  with  a  view  of  the 
sealed  book,  and  proceed  to  an  intei-pretation  of  the 
seven  seals.  I  shall  then  explain  the  seven  trumpets. 
f  shall  afterwards  go  on  to  the  consideration  of  the 
seven  vials.  These  three  periods,  which  precede  in 
the  history  of  Christianity,  the  commencement  of  the 
millennium  occupy  the  whole  of  this  book,  from  the 
beginning  of  the  fourth  to  the  twentieth  chapter. 

epithets  (o  cruel  and  unreasonable  men.  Josephus  calls  Herod  ©jj- 
§<ov,  (poviMv  !^>!^iev,  a  wild  beast,  a  murderous  wild  beast.  Civil  power, 
opposed  to  religion,  is  unreasonable  and  wicked,  God  instructs  us 
1o  esteem  such  rulers  as  wild  bensts. 


40  GENERAL   OUTLINE. 

I  shall  however  close  this  lecture  with  a  summary 
account  of  the  contents  of  the  book  of  Revelation, 
given  at  one  view. 

Part  I.  Is  an  introductory  vision  of  the  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ  in  his  mediatorial  character,  "  Head  over 
all  things  to  his  body  the  church." 

Part  II.  Is  a  series  of  letters  addressed  to  seven 
churches  mentioned  by  name — of  letters  which  un- 
fold the  religious  condition,  and  explain  the  duty  of 
these  several  churches. 

Part  III.  Is  prophetical.  It  gives  a  history  of 
Christ's  kingdom,  explaining  the  maxims  of  religion 
in  application  to  social  institutions  among  men.  It 
carries  forward,  and,  at  greater  length,  illustrates 
the  predictions  of  other  prophets,  especially  Daniel, 
as  they  relate  to  the  fourth  universal  empire,  or  Ro- 
man power.  And  its  whole  contents  are  subdivided 
into  seven  distinct  periods. 

The  seven  distinct  periods  of  the  Apocalyptical 
prophecy  are  the  following,  viz. 

1,  The  period  of  the  seals. 

It  respects  the  history  of  the  Pagan  Roman  em- 
pire, as  it  is  connected  with  the  progress  of  the 
christian  religion. 


2.  The  period  of  the  trumpets. 


SUMMARY.  47 

It  respects  the  history  of  the  empire  after  Chris- 
tianity became  in  name,  but  not  in  spirit  and  in  truth, 
the  established  religion ;  witli  a  view  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  events  of  the  period  atiected  the  actuajl 
church  of  God. 

3.  The  period  of  the  vials. 

It  represents  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Antichris- 
tian  empire. 

4.  The  period  of  the  millennium. 

Then  nations  shall  not  only  cease  to  be  immoral 
and  tyrannical,  but  all  social  institutions  shall  be 
sanctified,  and  all  ecclesiastical  and  civil  affairs  be 
rendered  conformable  to  the  word  of  God  in  spirit 
and  design- 

5.  The    period  of  subsequent  deterioration— of 

Gog  and  Magog. 

6.  The  period  of  the  final  judgment. 

7.  The  period  of  celestial  glory. 

"  This  order  of  the  prophecies,"  said  the  very  ju- 
dicious Lowman,  "  is,  I  think,  intelligible  and  na- 
tural ;  and  I  believe,  more  agreeable  to  the  impor- 
tant facts  in  history  than  other  systems.  It  is  cer- 
tain such  a  plan  will  well  answer  the  useful  designs 
of  prophecy  in  general — ta  prepaie  the  church  to 


48  GENERAL   OUTLINE. 

expect  opposition  and  sufferings  in  this  present 
world ;  to  support  good  men  under  all  their  trials  of 
faith  and  patience ;  to  give  encouragement  to  perse- 
verance in  the  true  religion,  whatever  dangers  may 
attend  it ;  to  assure  the  attention  of  providence,  and 
the  protection  of  God  to  his  o\vn  cause ;  that  no  op- 
position shall  finally  prevail  against  it:  that  the  judg- 
ments of  God  shall  punish  the  enemies  of  true  reli- 
gion: that  their  opposition  to  truth  and  righteous- 
ness shall  surely  end  in  theu'  own  destruction ;  when 
the  faithful  perseverance  of  true  christians  shall  be 
crowned  with  a  glorious  state  of  immortal  life  and 
happiness." 

Let  us,  my  brethren,  endeavour  to  secure  for  our- 
selves an  interest  in  that  religion  which  will  certain- 
ly enable  us  to  support  with  fidelity  toward  God, 
the  profession  of  our  faith,  and  also  after  the  toils  of 
this  life  are  ended,  to  pass  into  the  place  of  perfect 
holiness  and  happiness.     Amen. 


THE  SEALED  BOOK. 


LECTURE    IIL 


Rev.  V.  1 — 9....And  I  so?v  in  the  right  hand  of  hijn 
that  sat  on  the  throne  a  book  written  within  and  on 
the  back  side,  sealed  with  seven  seals,  SCc.  SCc. 

With  the  sealed  book  the  prophetical  part  of 
the  Revelation  commences.  All  that  is  before  this 
is  description  or  narrative.  It  is  in  chap.  4th,  the 
writer  is  himself  introduced  to  those  scenes  which 
are  predictive.  Verses  1,  2.  After  this.  Hooked, 
and,  behold,  a  door  was  opened  in  heaven :  and  thejirst 
voice  which  I  heard  was  as  it  were  of  a  trumpet  talking 
with  me  ;  which  said,  Come  up  hither,  and  I  will 

SHOW  THEE  THINGS  WHICH  MUST  BE  HEREAFTER.      And 

immediately  I  was  in  the  Spirit :  and,  behold,  a  throne 
ivas  set  in  heaven,  and  one  sat  on  the  throne.  Chap.  v. 
1 .  And  I  saw  in  the  right  hand  of  him  that  sat  on  the 
throne  a  book  written  within  and  on  the  back  side,  sealed 
with  seven  seals.  Verse  4  .And  I  wept  much,  because 
no  man  was  found  worthy  to  open,  and  to  read  the  book. 
From  this  representation  it  is  not  only  perfectly 
obvious,  that  the  first  invitation  which  the  apostle 
John  received  to  survey  futurity,  is  in  the  first  verse 
of  the  fourth  chapter;  but  it  is  also  apparent,  that 


50  THE    SEALED   BOOK. 

after  his  attention  is  fixed  upon  the  object  to  which 
it  was  invited,  all  future  events  are  still  shut  up  from 
his  anxious  eye.     The  entire  prophetic  period  is  a 
sealed  book  which  no  creature  can  disclose.     It  is 
in  the  fifth   chapter  we  are  first  introduced  to  the 
JVIediator  in  the  character  of  the  revealer  of  what  is 
to  come  to  pass  in  relation  to  his  church  on  earth ; 
and  it  is  not  until  the  sixth  chapter,  that  the  seals 
are  in  fact  broken  up,  and  the  prospective  history 
commences.     It  is  therefore  obvious,  that  there  is 
less  of  judgment  than  of  fancy  in  the  attempt  of  Dr. 
More,  to  discover  in  the  second  and  third  chapters 
a  complete  history  of  future  churches,  and  in  the 
efforts  of  Dr.  Johnston,  to  make  the  four  livuig  crea- 
tures of  the   fourth  and  fifth  chapters,  prophetical 
symbols.     By  such  interpretations,  there  is  indeed 
afforded  an  ample  opportunity  to  display  fertility  of 
genius.     Fiction  always  affords  more  scope  to  in- 
ventive power,  than  does  actual  history.     It  is  no 
less  injurious,  nevertheless,  to  the  true  interpretation 
of  the  Apocalypse,  to  force  a  predictive  sense  on 
passages  which  are  merely  descriptive,  than  it  is  to 
expound   as   referring  to  the  present  or  the   past, 
those  in  which  future  events  are  indeed  unfolded. 
To  allegorize  plain  language,  and  to  construe  meta- 
phor literally,  are   alike  incompatible  with  sound 
criticism. 

With  these  observations  I  proceed  to  lay  before 
you  the  several  parts  of  this  lecture. 

I  shall  explain  the  scenery  employed  in  bringing  the 
sealed  book  to  view — show  what  is  signified  by  opening 
this  book — and  make  some  concluding  reflections. 


THE    SCENERY.    -  f)! 

It  Avill  be  readily  admitted  by  all  men,  that  a  cor- 
rect knowledoje  of  those  events  whicli  are  yet  to 
come  to  pass,  so  for  as  it  exceeds  the  province  of  hu- 
man sagacity,  must  depend  upon  information  com- 
municated by  him  who  knows  the  end  from  the  be- 
Sfinninsf.  The  writer  of  the  book  of  Revelation  is, 
therefore,  careful  to  explain  the  maimer  in  which  he 
became  the  depository  of  those  secrets  of  the  Al- 
mighty. This  explanation  is  given  in  the  introduc- 
tion to  the  sealed  book.  I  shall  now  lay  it  before 
you. 

I.  Let  us  examine  the  scenery  employed  in  bring- 
ing to  view  the  sealed  book. 

The  divine  revelation  made  to  John  was  of  that 
kind  which  is  called  vision.  It  is  a  representation 
made  to  the  mind  by  supernatural  power,  having 
precisely  the  same  effect  that  external  objects  have, 
when,  in  a  clear  light,  they  are  distinctly  presented 
to  the  eye.  No  sooner  had  he  heard  the  invitation, 
"  Come  up  hither,  and  I  will  show  thee  things  which 
must  be  hereafter,"  than  he  was  the  subject  of  in- 
spiration. He  was  prepared  of  course  to  contem- 
plate what  "  eye  had  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor 
the  heart  of  man  conceived" — Immcdiattly  I  was  in 
Ihc  Spirit.     AVhat  he  then  beheld  is, 

THE    FIRST    PROPHETIC    VISION. 

It  invites  your  attention.  Christians,  not  so  much 
from  the  variety,  the  boldness,  and  the  splendour  of 


62  THE    SEALED    BOOK. 

its  imagery,  as  from  the  interesting  and  important 
doctrines  which  it  inculcates  and  unfolds.  It  exhi- 
bits the  throne  of  God  in  heaven,  as  he  sitteth  on  it 
— the  characters  that  compose  his  retinue — and  the 
Redeemer  of  men,  honoured  of  God  and  worshipped 
by  every  creature. 

1.  Behold,  a  throne  was  set  in  heaven,  and  one  sat  on 
the  ihrone.l  This  scene  has  an  allusion  to  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem;  the  place  of  the  divine  presence 
among  his  people.  There  he  dwelt  in  the  splendour, 
or  Shekinah,^  above  the  mercy-seat. 

He  that  sat  was  to  look  upon  like  a  jasper  and  a 
sardine  stone.]  It  is  not  necessary  that  he  be  named. 
His  throne  proclaims  the  Governor  of  the  universe. 
Although  theie  is  no  similitude  of  him,  his  appear- 
ance is  in  glory.  The  jasper  is  a  bright  transparent 
stone.  The  sardine  is  like  flame — a  ruby.  The 
former  signifies  the  holiness  of  the  Lord,  and  the 


*  Shekinah,  is  very  often  mentioned  in  the  Jewish  writings,  and 
signifies  in  their  Targums  or  Paraphrases,  the  divine  presence,  or 
the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Shekinah  is  that  extraordinary  luminous 
body  which  by  miracle  rested  over  the  mercy-seat,  and  between  the 
cherubim.  It  was  the  most  sensible  token  of  the  divine  presence 
among  the  Hebrews.  It  was  familiarly  called  "  the  glorv  of  the 
Lord" — The  presence  of  the  Lord. 

In  the  infancy  of  society,  and  before  revealed  truth  was  diffused 
by  writings,  Gotl  assured  his  people  of  his  presence  by  such  a  sensi- 
ble manifestation.  Thus  he  appeared  to  Adam  when  banished  the 
garden  of  Eden,  and  to  Abel  and  the  patriarchs  when  he  accepted 
their  sacrifices.  Thus  he  appeared  to  the  Hebrews  in  the  famous 
pillar,  alternately  opaque  and  luminous.  Thus  he  appeared  in  the 
burning  bush,  on  Mount  Sinai,  in  the  tabernacle,  and  in  the  temple. 


VIEW    OV    THE    THRONE.  53 

latter  liis  justice.  Honour  aud  majesty  are  before 
him,  strength  and  beauty  are  in  his  sanctuary. 

And  there  was  a  rainhoiv  round  about  the  tlironc,  in 
sight  like  unto  an  emerald.]  The  rainbow  is  the  well- 
known  sign  of  God's  covenant,  Ckn.  ix.  13.  It  re- 
presents the  promise  and  the  oath  of  the  covenant  of 
grace,  and  so  adorns  the  liead  of  Christ  Jesus.* 
Here  it  surrounds  the  throne  of  God,  to  show  that 
it  is  a  throne  of  grace  as  Avell  as  righteousness. 
The  bow,  too,  partakes  of  the  verdant  hue  of  the 
green  emerald,  in  token  of  the  relief  which  it  gives 
to  the  eye  from  the  splendour  of  divine  justice,  and 
to  show  that  tlie  covenant  of  grace  ever  abides  the 
NEW  covenant.  There  is  no  access  to  the  throne 
but  by  covenant.  There  is  nothing  proceeds  from 
the  throne  but  through  this  covenant.  All  the 
divine  dispensations  are  subservient  to  it ;  and  it  is  the 
bond  of  our  communion  with  God. 

Out  of  the  throne  proceeded  lightnings  and  ihunder- 
ings.]  The  mercy  of  God  does  not  impair  his  jus- 
tice, and  diminish  his  power.  He  is  a  consuming 
fire.  Thus  he  appeared  from  Mount  Sinai  to  the 
trembling  Hebrews.  Even  Moses  did  fear  and 
quake.  God  is  glorious  in  holiness,  and  fearful  in 
praises. 

And  there  were  seven  lamps  of  fire  burning  before 
the  throne,  which  are  the  seven  spiiits  of  God.]  Seven 
lamps  appertained  to  the  golden  candlestick  which 
was  before  the  most  holy  place.     They  pointed  out 

*  Hal),  ili.  9.     Jlev.  x.  1. 


54  THE    SEALED    BOOK. 

the  light  of  divine  truth,  together  with  all  the  other 
gifts  and  graces  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  church  of 
God.  Seven  is  a  number  of  perfection,  and  thus  ap- 
plied to  the  Holy  Spirit,  chap.  i.  4.  The  lamps  of 
the  candlestick  are  the  influences  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
churches ;  compare  chap.  i.  4.  with  verse  20. 

Before  the  throne  there  was  a  sea  of  glass  like  unto 
cryslaL']  The  brazen  sea  of  Solomon's  temple  was 
the  t}^e  of  that  washing  which  removes  the  guilt  of 
sin,  and  cleanses  man  from  its  pollution.  The  like 
figure,  even  baptism,  appears  in  the  system  of  New 
Testament  ordinances.* 

This  representation  of  the  throne  is,  with  some 
appropriate  variations,  similar  to  what  the  prophets 
were  accustomed  to  give,  for  the  purpose  of  impress- 
ing the  mind  Avith  reverence  for  the  divinity,  and  faith 
in  his  blessed  word,  Isa.  vi.  1 — 3.  Ezek.  chap.  i.  and 
X.     Dan.  vii.  9. 

And  I  saw  in  the  right  hand  of  him  that  sat  on  the 
throne  a  book.]  Before  we  inquire  what  this  book 
symbolizes,  let  us  consider 


*  The  brasen  or  molten  Sea,  in  the  temple,  was  about  fifty  feet  in 
circumference,  and  nearly  nine  feet  deep.  It  was  filled  with  pure 
water.  The  priests  washed  themselves  in  this  Sea,  when  they  were 
about  to  offer  sacrifices ;  and,  in  water  drawn  from  it,  into  the  seve- 
ral layers,  they  Avashed  the  sacrifices  to  be  presented  on  the  altar  of 
burnt-offerings.  This  represented  the  purifying  influence  of  the 
blood  of  Christ,  necessary  for  both  the  priests  and  the  sacrifices. 
The  sea  of  glass  before  the  throne,  represents  the  same  object — The 
atonement  by  which  we  are  justified,  and  the  consequent  sanctifica- 
Uon,  by  which  we  are  fitted  for  the  fellowship  of  the  saints  in  light. 


ATTENDANT?.  65 


2.  The  retinue  of  the  Kiiiir. 


o 


The  attendants  are  of  three  classes,  chap.  v.  11. 
And  I  beheld,  and  I  heard  the  voice  of  many  angels 
round  about  the  throne,  and  the  beasts,  and  the 
KLDERs.  We  shall  attend  to  each  in  tlie  order  of 
approximation  to  the  throne  of  God — Faithful  mi- 
nisters, saints,  and  angels. 

The  faithful  ministers  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  are 
symbolized  by  tlie  four  living  creatures,  Tscrcra^ot  Zwa, 
Tiie  word  Zw<*  is  very  improperly  translated  hmsU 
in  this  passage.  1  do  not  know  an  instance  in  which 
the  translation  degrades  the  original  idea  more  than 
in  this.  The  Greek  word  signifies  any  thing  that 
has  life,  and  may,  indeed,  in  its  highest  use  be  ap- 
plied to  him  who  hath  life  in  himself.  Both  Plato 
and  Aristotle  apply  it  to  God.*  We  render  it  in  this 
case  living  creatures. 

Several  excellent  critics  have  represented  these 
"  living  creatures"  as  angels,  and  Woodhouse  has 
employed  great  pains  to  prove  that  they  are  the 
highest  order  of  angels,  because,  1,  their  description 
is  borrowed  from  the  seraphim  of  Isa.  vi.  and  the 
cherubim  of  the  temple,  Ezek.  i.  10.  and,  2,  because 
they  are  placed  in  Rev.  iv.  6.  nearest  to  him  that 
sitteth  upon  the  throne.  The  first  argument  is, 
however,  inconclusive ;  and  the  second  proves  en- 
tirely the  reverse  of  what  it  is  employed  to  prove. 
That  some  of  the  attributes  of  angels  should  be  as- 
cribed to  Christian  ministers,  is  nothing  uncommon, 

'  Woodhouse  in  loco. 


I 


THE    SEALED    BOOK. 


for  they  are  even  called  by  the  name  of  angels  in 
chap,  i,  ii,  and  iii.  That  they  are  placed  near  to 
God,  yea,  nearer  than  angels  are,  is  evident  from 
chap.  iv.  6.  and  v.  11.  and  is  perfectly  conclusive 
that  they  are  distinct  from  angels.  Redeemed  men 
being  united  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  Jesus  Christ, 
are  thus  made  one  with  God  in  him,  John  xvii.  21. 
They  must,  therefore,  although  originally  made  lower 
than  the  angels,  become  nearer  to  their  God  than 
these  sons  of  the  morning.  There  is  another  con- 
sideration, hoAvever,  that  puts  the  question  at  rest. 
They  are  made  to  sing,  chap.  v.  9.  a  song,  which  in 
the  mouth  of  any  but  redeemed  men,  would  be  a 
falsehood.  Thou  wast  slaiuy  and  hast  redeemed  us  to 
God  1)1/  thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue^  and 
people,  and  7iation,  and  hast  made  us  unto  God  kings 
and  priests,  and  we  shall  reign  on  the  earth.  They 
are,  in  fact,  throughout  their  whole  description,  per- 
fectly distinguished  from  the  angels. 

They  are  evidently,  too,  a  distinct  order  of  re- 
deemed and  saved  sinners.  Their  employment,  as 
well  as  their  situation  and  character,  point  them  out 
as  the  fiiithful  ambassadors  of  ihe  cross  of  Christ. 
At  the  opening  of  the  seals,  chap.  vi.  they  call  to 
the  churches.  Come  and  see.  In  other  words,  they 
are  the  watchmen  who  expound  the  prophecy,  and 
teach  to  men  their  duty.  They  are  placed  between 
other  saints  and  the  throne,  being  the  otficial  attend- 
ants upon  their  Lord  and  Saviour.  They  are  de- 
scribed as  full  of  eyes  to  mark  their  discernment; 
and  compared  to  the  lion,  to  the  ox,  to  man,  and  to 
the  eagle,  to  denote  their  courage,  their  patience, 


THE    RETINUE. 


d 


(heir  humanity,  and  their  celerity,  elevation  of  mind, 
and  quick-sightedness  in  tlie  service  of  God. 

This  description  is  not  intended  to  apply  so  much 
to  each  or  any  individual  pastor  in  the  christian 
church,  as  to  the  collective  body.  They  are  said  to 
be  in  number  four.  This  number  is  often  used  to 
signify  universality.  The  four  ninds  of  lieaven,* 
are  all  winds.  The  four  corners  f  of  the  land,  are 
the  whole  country.  Dr.  Johnston  says,  this  "  number 
denotes  four  successive  periods  from  the  days  of  the 
apostles  to  the  final  judgment."  He  imagines  the 
first,  lion,  symbolizes  the  primitive  ministry — the  se- 
cond, calfy  or  young  ox,  the  ministry  of  the  dark 
ages — the  third,  ?nan,  the  ministry  of  the  reforma- 
tion— the  fourth,  eagle,  that  of  the  millennium.  It 
is  however  a  mere  assumption  that  the  four  living 
creatures  are  symbolical  of  any  distinct  periods,  and 
especially  of  the  four  which  are  here  specified. 
This  interpretation  gives  an  exposition  of  one  of  the 
most  interesting  concerns  of  futurity  even  before 
the  sealed  book  is  at  all  opened.  And  each  of  the 
twenty-four  elders  might  with  as  much  propriety  be 
separated  from  his  companions,  and  made  the  symbol 
of  a  prophetical  period,  as  separate  the  four  living 
creatures,  who  appear,  not  one  at  a  tune,  but  all  to- 
gether, at  the  throne  of  God. 

A  consideration  however  arises  from  the  sixth  chap- 
ter which  completely  destroys  this  fanciful  interpre- 

■   Dan.  vii.  2.  and  \i.  4.     Rev.  vii.  1. 
t   Isa.   xi.   12.     Ezek.  vii.  2.     See  Fhito  and   PytJiasorns,  as 
quoted  by  Woodhovsc. 

H 


i 

k 


THE    SEALED    BOOK. 


tation.  Each  of  the  four  living  creatures  appears 
actually  engaged  in  one  period,  and  that  a  very  early 
one.  They  all  act,  each  in  his  turn,  at  the  opening 
of  the  first  four  seals. 

By  "  the  four  living  creatures,"  I  therefore, 
throughout  understand,  the  collective  body  of  faith- 
ful ministers,  in  every  given  period  of  the  cliristian 
church.  Next  in  order,  appear  before  the  Lord  the 
King,  the  collective  body  of  faithful  people.  They 
are  symbolized  by  the  twenty-four  elders. 

The  n^gcr/3yTe^o/,  elderSy  were  well  known  as  the 
representatives  of  the  people  of  Israel,  and  as  the 
constitutional  representatives  of  christian  congrega- 
tions. By  the  number  twenty-four,  being  that  of  the 
twelve  tribes  added  to  that  of  the  twelve  apostles  of 
the  Lamb,  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment churches  appear  united  in  one  representative 
assembly.  Being  made  kings  and  priests  unto  God, 
they  are  seated  before  the  throne. 

There  is  in  this  part  of  the  vision  an  undoubted 
reference  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Jewish  Sanhe- 
drim sat  before  their  president.  The  throne  itself  is 
the  segment  of  a  small  circle,  so  that  the  four  living 
creatures  being  within  the  segment,  and  before  the 
Lord,  might  be  said  as  in  chap.  iv.  6.  to  be  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne,  and  round  about  it.  The  twenty- 
four  elders  were  upon  seats  round  about  the  throne, 
in  a  semicircle  of  larger  dimensions.  They  are  also 
all  clothed  in  white  raiment,  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  imputed  to  them,  and  they  are  crowned  with 
the  crown  of  righteousness.  They  and  the  living- 
creatures  sing  the  new  song,  chap.  v.  9.     In  a  coin- 


MESSIAH.  ^ 

plete  circle,  embracing  both  the  throne  and  the  semi- 
cii'cle  before  it  on  Avliich  the  elders  sat,  were  arran- 
ged the  third  class  of  characters  who  composed  the 
splendid  retinae — the  holy  angels. 

/  beheld  many  angels  round  about  the  throne,  and  the 
living  creatures,  and  the  elders.]  They  are  minister- 
ing spirits  sent  forth  to  minister  for  them  who  shall 
be  beiis  of  salvation.  They  are  about  the  throne, 
but  at  greater  distance  than  redeemed  men. 

3.  This  vision  presents  to  our  view  the  Redeemer 
himself,  before  the  throne  of  God,  receiving  the 
homage  of  created  beings. 

Tlie  INIessiah  was  not  revealed  until  there  was  evi- 
dently a  necessity  for  his  interposition.  In  no  case 
do  we  either  look  for  him,  or  desire  to  acknowledge 
him,  until  we  feel  an  absolute  necessity  for  an  interest 
in  him. 

/  saw  in  the  right  hand  of  him  that  sat  on  the  throne 
a  book — And  I  saw  a  strong  angel  proclaiming  with  a 
loud  voice,  who  is  worthy  to  open  the  book — and  I  wept 
much,  because  no  man  was  fouiul  worthy  to  open  and  to 
read  the  book — And  one  of  the  elders  saith  unto  mCy 
weep  not:  behold,  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  root 
of  David,  hath  prevailed  to  open  the  book.  Under 
these  very  interesting  circumstances,  when  anxiety  is 
at  its  height,  the  blessed  Redeemer  appears  in  his 
mediatorial  character,  and  inspires  the  assembly  with 
joy.  And  I  beheld,  and  lo,  in  the  midst  of  the  throne 
and  of  the  four  living  creatures,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
elders,  stood  a  lamb  as  it  had  been  slaix — And  he 
CAME  AND  TOOK  THE  BOOK  out  of  ihc  right  hand  of 
him  that  sat  on  the  throne.     The  ministers  of  his  word. 


60 


THE    SEALED   BOOK. 


the  church  which  he  redeemed,  the  unbodied  spirits, 
in  countless  myriads  around  them,  and  the  whole 
creation  rejoice  at  the  appearance  of  him  who  is 
both  the  lion  and  the  lamh,  to  take  the  book,  and  to 
loose  its  seals.  I'he  living  creatures  and  the  elders 
celebrate  the  praises  of  their  own  Redeemer.  Other 
intelligences  join  in  celebrating  the  praises  of  the 
Redeemer  of  men.  No  sooner  had  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  taken  the  sealed  book,  than 

"  The  multitude  of  angel?,  with  a  shout 
Loud  as  from  numbers  without  number,  sweet 
As  from  blessed  voices  uttering  joy ;  heaven  rung 
With  jubilee,  and  loud  hosannas  filled 
The  eternal  regions — 

No  voice  exempt,  no  voice  but  well  could  join 
Melodious  part — such  concord  is  in  heaven."* 

II.  We  shall  now  attend  more  immediately  to  the 
sealed  book  itself,  to  the  opening  of  which,  all  this 
was  introductory. 

The  book  which  appeared  in  the  right  hand  of  God, 
and  was  given  to  Messiah,  contained  the  outline  of 
those  events  which  were  after  that  time  to  come  to 
pass. 

A  book  is  any  thing  upon  which  ideas  are  commit- 
ted to  writing  for  the  purpose  of  being  read.  Va- 
rious sorts  of  materials  were  anciently  used  in  ma- 
king them.  The  works  of  Hesiod  were  written  on 
plates  of  lead.  The  laws  of  Solon  were  written  on 
wood;  and  the  divine  law  was  written  in  Sinai  on 
tables  of  stone.  From  the  use  of  the  inner  bark  of 
trees  in  this  way,  books  derive  their  Latin  name  Li- 

*  Milton, 


SEVEN   A    SACRED    NUMBER.  61 

bers  and  as  the  substance  written  upon,  whether  bark 
or papynis,  or  parchment,  which  came  afterwards  into 
use,  was  frequently  rolled  uj)  for  the  sake  of  conve- 
nience, books  were  called  volumes,  volumeny  or  rolls 
as  in  scriptuie,  Ezek.  ii.  9.  AVhen  a  writing  was  thus 
rolled  up,  the  contents  could  not  be  read,  and  when 
secrecy  or  security  were  intended,  the  rolls  were 
sealed.* 

In  the  book  before  us  are  the  pui-poses  of  heaven 
recorded.     They  are  known  to  himself  before  they 
are  accomplished,  and  they  are  arranged  in  due  or- 
der.    These  purposes  are,  however,  sealed.     They 
are  certainly  to  be  executed,  and  they  are  effectually 
concealed  from  view  until  they  are  either  displayed 
in  the  event,  or  supernaturally  made  known  to  man. 
In  this  instance,  the  roll  is  sealed  with  seven  seals. 
Seven  was  among  the  Jews  a  sacred  number,  and 
is  the  sign  of  completeness.     "  This  number,"  says 
Calmet,  "  is  consecrated,  as  it  were,  in  the  holy  books, 
and  in  the  religion  of  the  Jew^s,  by  a  great  number 
of   events    and    mysterious    circumstances.       God 
created  the  world  in  seven  days,  and  consecrated  the 
seventh   to  repose.     Every  seventh  year  was  also 
consecrated  to  the  rest  of  the  earth  as  a  Sabbatical; 
also  the  seven  times  seventh  year  as  the  Jubilee.     In 
the  prophetic  style,  a  week,  i.  e.  seven  days,  often 
signifies  seven  years.     Pharaoh's  mysterious  dream 
represented  to  his  imagination  seven  fat  and  seven 
lean  oxen:  seven  full  ears  of  corn,  and  seven  empty. 
The  number  of  seven  days  is  observed  in  the  oc- 

*  Calmet. 


§2  THE    SEALED    BOOK. 

taves  of  the  great  solemnities;  of  the  passover;  of 
the  feast  of  tabernacles ;  the  dedication  of  the  taber- 
nacle and  temple.  Observe  also  the  seven  branches 
of  the  golden  candlestick ;  the  number  of  seven  sa- 
crifices often  appointed.  In  the  Revelation — the  se- 
ven churches;  seven  candlesticks ;  seven  spirits ;  se- 
ven stars ;  seven  lamps ;  seven  seals ;  seven  angels ; 
seven  trumpets;  seven  vials;  &c.  In  a  word,  we 
may  find  the  number  seven  throughout  the  scripture." 
In  the  present  use  of  the  number  seven,  it  is  quite 
certain  that  the  idea  of  perfection  is  involved.  The 
book  was  completely  sealed;  and  its  contents  are 
not  to  be  revealed  but  by  breaking  open  the  several 
seals,  and  so  unfolding  the  volume.  There  is  besides 
an  evident  reference  in  this  passage  to  the  writings  of 
the  earlier  prophets.  They  represented,  as  a  sealed 
book,  predictions  which  were  not  understood.  Isa. 
xxix.  11,  12.  The  vision  of  all  is  become  unto  you  as 
the  words  of  a  book  that  is  sealed,  which  men  de- 
liver to  one  that  is  learned,  saying,  read  this,  I  pray 
thee  ;  and  he  saith,  I  cannot ;  for  it  is  sealed.  The 
words  of  the  Lord  respecting  what  was  about  to 
come  to  pass  after  the  commencement  of  the  chris- 
tian era,  are  more  immediately  applicable  to  the 
sealed  book  now  under  consideration.  Daniel  xii.  9. 
This  prophet  had  heard  the  Messiah  speaking  of  the 
great  period  of  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years,*  so 
often  the  subject  of  discussion  in  the  Apocalypse,  and 
frequently  before  suggested  to  Daniel  himself,  but  he 

*  Time,  times,  and  a  half — three  years  and  a  half — forty-two 
months,  6ic. 


CONTENTS.  63 

understood  it  not.  And  T  heard  hit  understood  not: 
then  said  I,  O  my  Lord,  what  shall  be  the  enel  of  these 
things  ?  And  he  said.  Go  thy  ivay,  Daniel,  for  the 
WORDS  ARE  CLOSED  UP  AND  SEALED  to  the  time  of  the 
end. 

The  book  closed  up  against  the  inquiries  of 
Daniel,  and  sealed  to  the  time  of  the  end,  is  that 
which  now  appears  to  .John  in  the  hands  of  him  that 
sat  on  the  throne.  The  prophet  was  in  vain  desirous 
to  know  its  contents;  and  the  apostle  equally 
anxious,  wept  because  there  was  none  found  worthy 
to  open  the  book.  But  John  the  Divine  wiped  away 
his  tears,  and  joined  the  general  hymn  of  praise 
heard  among  the  celestial  inhabitants,  when  the  Lion 
of  the  tribe  of  Judah  appeared  and  took  the  book  in 
his  hand,  with  design  to  unfold  its  contents.  It  was 
imderstood  by  all,  as  well  as  of  old  it  had  been  by 
the  prophet,  that  it  contained  the  prospective  his- 
tory of  the  Mediator's  kingdom.  Therefore  were 
they  so  anxious  to  learn  what  that  history  should  be. 
A  similar  anxiety  is  natural  to  all  liberal  and  faithful 
christians. 

THE    SEALED    ROOK, 

Now  about  to  be  opened  by  him  who  is  the  Root 
of  David,  and  the  Lamb  of  God,  is  therefore  to  be 
considered  as  a  prophetic  view  of  the  future  inter- 
ests of  religion,  as  they  do  affect,  and  are  affected  by 
the  great  social  concerns  of  the  human  family.  The 
opening  of  the  book,  by  disclosing  its  contents,  is  of 
course  the  information  which  bv  divine  revelation  is 


64  THE    SEALED    BOOK. 

afforded  (o  us  upon  this  very  interesting  and  impor- 
tant subject. 

It  is  necessary  in  order  to  prepare  you  for  the  in- 
terpretation of  the  subsequent  prophecies  of  the 
Apocalypse,  that  this  principle  be  well  understood 
and  kept  in  recollection.  I  shall  therefore  more 
formally  assign  my  reasons  for  considering  the  seal- 
ed book  as  containing  the  whole  of  that  period  of 
time,  the  events  of  which  are  predicted  in  the  Reve- 
lation. 

1.  The  whole  history  of  the  church  of  God  on 
earth,  from  the  commencement  of  the  gospel  dispen- 
sation, until  the  general  judgment,  is  included  in 
the  sealed  book  of  the  prophet  Daniel,  and  must  of 
course,  except  so  far  as  it  was  already  disclosed  by 
the  events,  be  contained  in  the  book  which  John  be- 
held in  God's  right  hand.  His  purposes  are  one, 
and  the  books  in  which  they  are  recorded  evidently 
identify.  Dan.  xii.  4.  O  Daniel,  shut  up  the  words 
and  seal  the  book,  even  to  the  time  of  the  end.  These 
words,  however,  extended  to  the  period  verse  2,  in 
which  they  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall 
awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame  and 
everlasting  contempt. 

2.  The  Avords  of  the  Saviour,  "  the  first  voice," 
that  addressed  the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse,*  gives 
assurance  that  such  a  general  history  would  be 
given — /  will  show  thee  the  things  which  must  he  here- 
after. 

*  Compare  chap,  iv,  1.  ^itli  chap.  i.  10.,  11. 


CONTENTS.  65 

3.  This  book  appears  sealed  in  the  hand  of  God. 
It  is  the  purpose  of  the  Alniiglity  respecting  liis 
church.  All  the  inhabitants  of  tlie  upper  sanctuary 
are  anxious  to  know  the  contents.  None  but  Messiah 
can  be  found  worthy  to  unloose  the  seals.  To  him 
the  book  is  delivered  in  the  most  solemn  manner. 
Now,  as  all  the  purposes  of  God  are  administered 
by  Jesus  Christ,  and  thus  committed  to  him  to  be  ad- 
ministered, the  book  must  include  the  whole  scheme 
of  the  divine  government. 

4.  Under  the  seventh  seal  is  included  the  whole 
period  of  the  trumpets.  Chap.  viii.  1,  2.  And  when 
he  had  opened  the  seventh  seal,  I  saw  the  seven  angels 
which  stood  before  Gody  and  to  them  were  given  seven 
trumpets.  The  seventh  trumpet,  however,  includes 
the  whole  of  future  time  ;  and  therefore  it  must  have 
been  originally  in  the  sealed  book.  Chap.  xi.  15 — 
18.  And  the  seventh  angel  sounded — And  thy  ivrath  is 
come,  and  the  time  of  the  dead  that  they  shoidd  he  judged. 

It  is  indeed  the  general,  if  not  the  uniform  mode 
of  the  divine  Spirit,  to  give  in  every  entire  prophecy, 
at  the  close  of  those  predictions  which  exhibit  great 
sufterings  to  christians  separately,  or  the  church  of 
God  collectively,  a  view  of  that  rest  which  remains 
for  the  faithful,  where  the  wicked  cease  to  trouble. 
The  prophecy  of  the  book  of  Revelation  places 
at  the  conclusion  of  it,  the  general  resurrection  and 
judgment;  and  thus  carries  on  the  history  contained 
in  the  sealed  book  to  the  end  of  all  thne,  when 
other  books  behove  to  be  opened  for  settling  the 
final  state  of  all  flesh.  Chap.  xx.  12 — 15.  "And  I 
T 


66  THE    SEALED    BOOK. 

sjaw  the  dead  small  and  great  stand  before  God :  and 
the  books  were  opened;  and  another  book  was 
opened,  which  is  the  book  of  life  :  and  the  dead  were 
judged  out  of  those  things  which  were  written  in 
the  books,  according  to  their  works — And  death  and 
hell  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire :  this  is  the  se- 
cond death.  And  whosoever  was  not  found  written 
in  the  book  of  life,  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire." 

The  whole  period  of  the  Apocalyptical  prophecy 
belongs  of  course  to  the  sealed  book.  The  seven 
periods  already  designated  are  included  in  it;  al- 
though the  most  interesting  parts  are  more  fully  de- 
scribed in  collateral  visions.  The  little  open  book 
of  chap.  X.  is  in  the  text  itself,  as  will  appear  in  due 
time,  sufficiently  distinguished  from  this  great 
BOOK :  but  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  period  which 
it  particularly  describes,  is  a  very  interesting  part  of 
the  general  one  which  is  set  forth  in  the  roll  origi- 
nally held  in  the  right  hand  of  him  who  sat  on  the 
throne. 

"  It  is  a  very  erroneous  opinion,  that  the  predic- 
tions of  the  Revelation,  and  accordingly  the  con- 
tents of  the  sealed  book,  point  out  a  very  short  space 
of  time — a  few  years  after  the  vision.  The  wis- 
dom and  goodness  of  God,  which  provides  in  every 
state  of  affliction  suitable  support  to  the  faith  and 
constancy  of  the  church,  give  us  reason  to  believe 
that  the  spirit  of  prophecy  did  not  design  its  holy 
aid  exclusively  for  the  first  ages  of  Christianity."* 
Every  section  of  the  Apocalypse  which  is  selected 

*  Lowman. 


CONTENTS.  67 

as  the  subject  of  lecture,  will,  however,  afford  us  the 
best  opportunity  of  deteiinining  the  points  of  time 
to  which  itself  applies.  We  deem  it  necessary  at 
present,  only  to  add  to  the  preceding  considerations 
tliat  the  true  church  has  found,  dui  ing  the  long  and 
gloomy  reign  of  superstition  over  the  nations  called 
christian,  great  support  and  consolation  from  the 
Apocalyptical  predictions,  both  such  as  were  fulfil- 
ling in  their  own  day,  and  sucli  as  are  even  yet  unac- 
complished. Dr.  Clarke  has  justly  observed,  "God 
did  from  the  beginning  make,  and  has  all  along 
continued  to  his  church,  or  true  worshippers,  a  pro- 
mise that  truth  and  virtue  shall  finally  prevail  over 
the  spirit  of  error  and  wickedness,  of  delusion  and 
disobedience."*  The  opening  of  the  sealed  book 
being  a  disclosure  of  those  events  which  stand  con- 
nected with  the  sufferings  and  the  sorrows,  the  vic- 
tories and  the  triumphs,  of  the  church,  was  remarka- 
bly adapted  to  the  condition  of  believers  during  the 
ages  which  were  destined  to  precede  the  millennium. 
ft  is  perfectly  becoming,  therefore,  that  the  open- 
ing of  this  book  be  accompanied  with  the  shouts 
of  both  the  ministers  and  members  of  the  christian 
church.  And  they  sung  a  new  song,  saying.  Thou  arl 
worthy  to  take  the  hook,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof. 

A  long  written  roll,  fastened  with  seven  separate 
seals,  cannot  be  entirely  disclosed  until  the  last  seal 
is  removed ;  and  it  would  be  improper  to  suppose, 
that  each  seal  would,  when  opened,  exhibit  an  equal 
portion  of  the  contents  of  tlie  roll.  Upon  sucli  an 
instrument,  seals  could  not  in  fact  be  placed  in  such 

"^  Connexion  oC  Prophecy. 


on  THE    SEALED   BOOR. 

a  manner  as  to  be  visible,  and  at  the  same  time  af- 
fect each  an  equal  portion  of  its  contents.  Each  of 
the  six  first  opened,  could  only  disclose  compara- 
tively a  small  part ;  whereas  the  last  must  unavoid^ 
ably  unfold  the  entire  book.  We  are  accordingly 
prepared,  from  the  nature  of  the  symbol,  to  expect 
that  the  period  of  time  which  the  six  seals  describe 
is  comparatively  short.  The  opening  of  the  seventh 
seal  immediately  announces  the  angels  of  the  trum- 
pets, and  both  they  and  the  angels  who  hold  the 
vials  will  be  found  to  have  executed  their  commis- 
sion before  the  reign  of  righteousness  extends  over 
the  earth.  The  seals,  the  trumpets,  and  the  vials, 
therefore,  give  names  in  the  systems  of  the  best  Com- 
mentators on  prophecy,  to  three  great  distinct  pe- 
riods, from  the  apostolical  age  to  the  time  of  the 
millennium.  The  period  of  the  seals  is  the  first 
in  order,  and  includes  all  the  events  predicted  during 
the  opening  of  the  first  six  seals  of  the  great  book. 
This  shall  be  the  subject  of  the  succeeding  lecture. 

III.  I  conclude  this  discourse  with  two  reflections. 

1.  The  vision  respecting  the  sealed  book  excites 
joyful  anticipations  of  discoveries  elucidating  the 
predictions  of  the  elder  prophets,  and  especially 
those  which  were  uttered  by  Daniel  to  the  Jewish 
captives  in  Babylon.  Daniel  himself  was  deeply 
and  anxiously  affected  by  what  he  saw  and  heard. 
.John  the  Divine,  and  the  company  which  he  beheld 
in  the  temple,  were  deeply  affected  by  what  thei/ 
saw  and  heard.  You  too,  my  brethren,  if  you  drink 
together  into  the  same  spirit  w^ith  these  celebrated 


REFLECTIONS.  69 

and  godly  men,  will  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  disco- 
veries made  to  you  by  the  Revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ.  You  will  receive  them  with  suitable 
emotions. 

It  is  not  the  love  of  the  marvellous, — that  princi- 
ple so  natural  to  all  men,  but  to  which  the  weakest 
minds  are  the  most  prone ;  it  is  not  the  love  of  the 
marvellous  that  we  would  now  court  or  invite  to  ac- 
tion. It  is  not  the  idle  curiosity,  which  makes  a  man 
of  no  discernment  or  benevolence  seek  to  know  and 
to  repeat  what  others  do  not  know,  merely  for  the 
gratification  of  vanity;  and  which  is  of  course  more 
enamoured  of  novelty  than  of  truth ;.  which  is  satis- 
fied with  the  semblance  of  truth;  this  is  not  the  prin- 
ciple which  we  would  invite  to  the  examination  of 
divine  predictions.  We  use  no  efforts  to  awaken 
the  spirit  of  discontent  at  the  order  of  God's  provi- 
dence as  it  respects  your  present  lot ;  or  of  selfish 
calculations  of  future  temporal  emolument,  without 
regard  to  the  interest  of  true  religion.  We  would 
rather  consign  such  a  spirit  to  perpetual  sleep. 
But  we  do  invite  you,  christians,  beloved  and  re- 
deemed of  the  Lord,  to  employ  your  faculties  in  the 
diligent  acquisition  of  that  knowledge  of  futurity 
which  the  God  whom  you  worship  hath  deemed  of 
importance  supernaturally  to  lay  before  you.  It  is 
the  spirit  of  love,  of  zeal,  and  of  a  sound  mind,  that 
we  would  enlist  in  this  holy  service.  It  is  that  be- 
nevolent sensibility,  which  disregarding  the  perilous 
and  perishing  enjoyments  of  this  world,  weeps  with 
the  afflicted  Israelites,  and  rejoices  at  the  prospect 
of  deliverance  to  the  whole  seed  of  .Jacob,  that  we 


70  THE    SEALED    BOOK. 

would  cherish  and  improve.  It  is  that  holy,  that  ra- 
tional desire  of  knowing  what  God  is  about  to  do, 
and  in  what  manner  lie  calls  for  your  co-operation, 
in  promoting  the  glory  of  his  great  name,  in  dis- 
pensing happiness  around  him,  and  in  saving  your 
own  souls — It  is  this  laudable  desire  of  information 
we  would  cultivate  among  you. 

The  vision  of  the  sealed  book  introduces  you  to 
your  compatriots — to  men  of  a  kindred  spirit.  The 
pastors  of  the  church,  and  the  four  and  twenty  elders 
having  every  one  of  them  harps,  and  golden  vials  full 
of  odours,  which  are  the  prayers  of  saints,  invite 
you  to  their  fellowship.  The  throne  of  light  ap- 
pears surrounded  with  the  token  of  the  covenant  of 
grace.  God  is  in  the  midst  of  it.  The  Lion  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah  from  the  throne  administers  his  pro- 
vidence in  the  support  of  his  ransomed  inheritance. 
His  voice  is  heard  by  believers,  saying,  Come  up 
hither,  and  I  will  show  thee  things  which  must  he  here- 
after. I  have  delivered  to  you  the  invitation.  AVill 
you  authorize  me  to  express  your  acceptance  ? — to 
testify  to  my  God  the  zeal  of  his  people,  and  their 
affection  for  his  cause  ?  I  pause  for  a  reply.  Yes ! 
I  shall  offer  in  your  behalf  the  vow  which  is  de- 
manded. For  Zion's  sake  will  I  not  hold  my  peace, 
and  for  Jerusalem's  sake  I  will  not  rest,  until  the 
righteousness  thereof  go  forth  as  brightness,  and  the 
salvation  thereof  as  a  lamp  that  hurneth. 

2.  The  subject  under  consideration  calls  upon 
you,  before  you  retire,  to  express  your  satisfaction  in 
the  exaltation  of  Jesus  Christ. 


REFLKCTIONS.  71 

*'  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive 
power,  and  riches,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and 
blessing."  I'his  is  the  song  of  angels  and  redeemed 
men.  We  have  a  right  to  require,  and  to  expect  of 
you  that  you  join  in  his  praises.  It  is  througli  him 
alone  you  have  access  to  the  throne  of  grace.  It  is 
in  him  alone  you  are  living  members  of  the  church. 
There  is  no  other  name  by  which  you  must  be 
saved. 

Upon  the  nature  of  our  relation  to  Jesus  Christ 
depends  entirely  our  christian  character.  AVhen  that 
relation  is  a  vital  spiritual  union,  we  are  justified. 
"  Being  dead  to  the  law  by  tlie  body  of  Christ,  we 
are  married  to  another  husband."  His  righteousness 
is  upon  us,  and  his  Spirit  within  us.  We  are  true 
christians.  When  that  relation  is  constituted  by  a 
sound  profession  of  faith  in  his  doctrine,  Ave  are  pro- 
fessed christians.  But  if  the  profession  be  insincere, 
we  are  hypocrites ;  and  if  there  be  no  more  than  a 
profession,  we  are  no  more  than  nominal  christians. 
Let  us  test  our  sincerity  by  the  doctrine  of  Christ's 
exaltation.  It  is  a  mode  of  trial  which  he  himself 
taught  his  disciples  to  employ.  If  ye  loved  we,  ye 
nould  rejoice  because  1  said,  I  go  to  the  Father.  The 
only  possible  ground  of  reluctance  to  have  all  power 
in  heaven  and  on  earth  administered  by  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  is  indisposition  to  obey 
some  or  all  of  his  commandments.  This  indisposi- 
tion he  himself  ascribes  to  the  want  of  love  for  him. 
If  ye  love  me  keep  my  commandments.  Inasmuch 
then  as  it  is  impossible  to  love  the  Redeemer  without 
a  corresponding  love  for  his  law,  so  it  is  equally  ini- 


72  THE    SEALED   BOOK. 

possible  to  love  him  or  his  laws,  without  being  dis- 
posed at  the  same  time  to  have  him  as  our  ruler,  and 
without  an  ardent  desire  to  see  the  whole  concerns  of 
men  regulated  by  christian  principles. 

I  think  I  might  with  safety  lodge  my  appeal, 
against  the  doctrine  which  limits  the  mediatorial  au- 
thority, with  the  hearts  of  renewed  men.  What  say 
you  /  Is  it  unpleasant  to  you,  that  your  own  Saviour 
should  be  the  King  of  nations  and  of  saints?  Is  it 
desirable  that  his  authority  be  under  restraint?  I 
know  your  reply.  Left  to  his  own  unbiassed  feel- 
ings, and  to  the  word  of  God,  no  true  christian 
would  ever  wish  to  see  the  Redeemer's  power  short- 
ened. Thou  hast  given  him  power  over  alljicsh,  that 
he  might  give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  thou  hast  given 
him.  There  would  be  weeping  in  heaven  if  Christ 
were  prevented  from  reigning.  Now  there  is  uni- 
versal joy  because  he  discloses,  both  by  prediction 
and  providential  accomplishment,  the  decrees  of 
God.  "  I  wept  much,"  said  the  apostle,  "  because 
none  was  found  worthy  to  open  and  to  read  the 
book.  And  one  of  the  elders  saith  unto  me,  weep 
not:  behold,  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  Root 
of  David,  hath  prevailed  to  open  the  book,  and  to 
loose  the  seven  seals  thereof." 

This  arrangement  gave  universal  satisfaction. 
"  He  came  and  took  the  book  out  of  the  right  hand 
of  him  that  sat  upon  the  throne.  And  when  he  had 
taken  the  book,  the  four  living  creatures  and  four 
and  twenty  elders  fell  down  before  the  Lamb — And 
they  sung  a  new  song,  saying,  Thou  art  worthy  to 
take  the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof." 


REFLECTIONS.  73 

It  deserves  to  be  distinctly  remarked,  that  those 
ministers  and  members  in  the  celestial  chmch, 
were  far  from  imagining;  that  his  character  and 
siifferino^s  as  Mediator  rendered  him  less  qualified 
for  reigning,  or  less  worthy  of  religious  worship:  for 
in  the  midst  of  their  adoration,  they  pointed  out  the 
ollicial  character  in  which  they  viewed  him  when  they 
sung  his  praise,  and  assigned  as  a  special  reason  for 
their  song,  his  sufferings  for  our  redemption.  "  And 
they  sung  a  new  song,  saying.  Thou  art  worthy  to 
take  the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof:  for  thou 
wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy 
blood,  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people, 
and  nation." 

What  are  we  then  to  think  of  the  religious  charac- 
ter of  those  who  refuse  to  ascribe  divine  honours 
and  religious  worship  to  Jehovah-.Iesus  ?  Are  they 
indeed  christians,  who  reject  the  doctrine  of  satisfac- 
tion for  sin  by  the  deatli  of  Ciuist ;  who  exhibit  his 
sufierings  as  not  in  fact  the  price  of  our  redemption ; 
and  who  degrade  him  to  the  condition  of  a  mere 
man? 

The  christian  religion  is  something  more  than 
saying,  I  am  a  christian.  Be  not  deceived,  God 
is  not  mocked.  Does  a  man  say,  "  I  am  a 
scholar?"  The  assertion  does  not  make  him  one. 
Does  he  say,  "  I  am  a  merchant,  a  land-holder,  a.  sol- 
dier, a  philosopher  ?"  His  assertion  does  not  make 
him  so.  And  shall  his  own  assertion  entitle  a  man 
to  be  considered  as  a  christian,  who  gives  no  evi- 
dence of  a  sanctified  spirit ;  who  despises  the  doc- 
trines of  the  grace  of  God;  and  wiio  proclaims  him- 
K 


74  THE    SEALED    BOOK. 

self  a  mere  partizan  of  man  ?  This  is  not  an  imagi- 
nary case.  Hundreds  claim  the  christian  name 
who  adopt  such  language  as  this,  "  I  have  no  need 
of  a  Redeemer  to  satisfy  divine  justice  for  my  sins. 
There  is  no  Mediator  necessary  to  establish  recon- 
ciliation. Jesus  Christ  is  no  more  than  a  creature. 
He  is  a  mere  man.  I  am  a  christian  only  because  I 
believe  .Jesus  Christ  to  have  been  a  man  of  talents 
and  virtue,  at  the  head  of  a  certain  sect."  Can  you 
suppose  that  such  a  profession  makes  a  true  chris- 
tian? Then  is  Christianity  in  nothing  essentially 
different  from  the  religion  of  the  outcast  Jew,  of 
the  Heathen,  and  of  the  Mahometan.  And  such 
christians,  like  the  Jews  of  old,  upon  the  supposition 
that  our  Saviour  gave  himself  out  as  equal  with  God, 
would  adjudge  him  guilty  of  blasphemy,  and  worthy 
of  death.  At  the  most,  they  could  say  no  better  of 
him  than  Pontius  Pilate  when  giving  him  up  to  the 
executioner — "  In  this  just  man  I  find  no  fault." 

You,  my  dear  hearers,  have  not  so  learned  Christ. 
You  know  He  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with 
God.  You  readily  bow  before  him  in  acts  of  hum- 
ble adoration,  without  feeling  the  guilt  of  idolatry. 
You  see  that  angels  also  have  received  the  command 
to  worship  him.  He  is  "  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the 
first  and  the  last — God  over  all,  blessed  for  ever." 
Hear,  what  this  first  Apocalyptical  prophecy  says  of 
him,  when  he  took  the  sealed  book.  All  creatures 
adore  him.  All  give  him  honour  equal  to  that  which 
they  give  unto  God  the  Father.  Every  heart  beats 
high  with  exultation,  and  every  tongue  is  employed 
in  eulogy.     Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  re- 


CONCLUSION.  7.0 

ctive  j)otver^  and  riches,  and  ivisdoitif  and  strength^  and 
honour,  and  ghry,  and  blessing.  And  every  creature 
nkich  is  in  heaveuy  and  on  the  earth,  and  under  the 
earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea,  and  all  that  is  in  them, 
heard  I  saying.  Blessing,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and 
jwner,  be  unto  Him  that  sittclh  npon  the  throne,  and 
unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever.  And  the  four  living 
creatures  said  Amen.  And  all  true  christians  will 
imitate  theii'  example.     Amen  and  Amen ! 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  SEALS. 


LECTURE  IV. 


Rev.  vi....And  I  saw  when  the  Lamb  opened  one  of  the 
seals  J  and  I  heard  as  it  were  the  noise  of  thunder ^ 
one  of  the  four  living  creatures,  sayingy  Come  and 
see,  SCc.  SCc. 

XN  this  chapter,  we  have  a  complete  specimen  of 
the  symbolical  style  of  prophecy.  This  kind  of 
writing  contains  in  a  small  compass  much  informa- 
tion :  but  like  the  hieroglyphics  of  antiquity,  or  his- 
torical painting,  it  requires  skill  and  accuracy  in  the 
application  of  each  part  to  its  corresponding  event. 
Whensoever  a  diversity  of  exposition  is  admissible, 
with  respect  to  the  same  or  similar  symbols,  it  must, 
like  every  other  species  of  figurative  language,  be 
determined  by  the  connexion.  Due  attention  to  this 
is  necessary  in  order  to  prevent  confusion  in  the  in- 
terpretation. 

In  the  schedule  which  I  have  already  laid  before 
you,  of  the  contents  of  the  sealed  book,*  I  mention- 
ed the  general  division  of  the  events  between  the 

■  Pase  68. 


78  THE   PERIOD    OF    THE    SEALS. 

apostolical  age  and  the  millennium,  into  three  dis- 
tinguished periods — the  period  of  the  5ea/5— the  pe- 
riod of  the  trumpets — and  the  period  of  the  vials. 
We  are  in  this  lecture  to  examine 

PERIOD    I. 

It  is  that  part  of  "  the  book  sealed  with  seven 
seals,"  which  is  disclosed  at  thfe  opening  of  the  six 
seals,  first  in  order.  At  the  breaking  of  each  seal, 
a  portion  of  the  roll  or  volume  is  unfolded,  and  the 
writing  becomes  legible. 

Before  I  proceed  to  examine  the  contents  of  each 
seal,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  attend  to  those  considera- 
tions, by  which,  in  connexion  with  the  prophecy  it- 
self, we  are  enabled  to  ascertain  the  period  of  his- 
tory to  which  the  seals  refer.  From  these  it  will 
appear,  that  there  is  no  undeterminateness  in  the 
Apocalyptical  predictions,  and  that  in  our  interpre- 
tation of  them,  respect  is  had  to  certain  fixed  princi- 
ples, without  giving  any  scope  to  fancy  or  implicitly 
submitting  to  human  opinions,  however  respectable. 

There  is  indeed  ample  evidence  that  this  period 
embraces  the  events  which  came  to  pass  in  the  Ro- 
man empire,  under  its  Pagan  rulers,  from  the  days  of 
the  apostles,  until  the  revolution  which  invested  Con- 
stantine,  called  the  Great,  with  the  imperial  purple. 
Of  this  evidence,  every  person  may  judge  for  him- 
self. 

1.  The  "sealed  book"  of  the  Revelation  has  im- 
mediate respect  to  the  Roman  empire. 


RULES    OF    INTERPRETATION.  79 

The  power  of  that  government  was  now  univer- 
sally established  over  the  nations  in  which  the  chris- 
tian church  existed.  The  christians  were  deeply  in- 
terested in  its  policy.  They  felt  severely  under  its 
persecuting  edicts.  They  were  moreover  directed 
by  the  prophecy  of  Daniel  to  consider  it  as  the  last 
empiie  that  should  appear  under  the  influence  of  Sa- 
tan to  oppose  the  establishment  of  Christ's  kingdom. 
The  vision  of  Nebuchadnezzar  interpreted  by  the 
prophet,  chap.  ii.  was,  at  least  thus  far,  well  under- 
stood. The  "  head  of  gold"  had  passed  away  with 
the  Chaldean  monarchy.  Yerse  38.  Thou  art  this 
head  of  gold.  The  breast  and  arms  of  silver  had 
been  destroyed  with  the  Persian  empire  which  suc- 
ceeded that  of  Babylon.  Verse  39.  And  after  thee 
shall  arise  another  kingdom  inferior  to  thee.  The 
kingdom  established  under  Alexander  of  Macedon, 
had  also  fallen  never  to  rise.  Yerse.  39.  The  king- 
dom of  brass  hearing  ride  over  all  the  earth.  The 
"  fourth  empire"  is  the  one  which  existed  at  the  time 
of  .Tohn  the  Divine.  Yerse  40.  The  fourth  kingdom 
shall  he  strong  as  iron,  and  as  iron  shall  it  he  broken 
in  pieces.  It  was  expected  according  to  this  prophe- 
cy that  the  Roman  government  should  undergo  such 
convulsions  as  should  divide  it  into  ten  distinct 
powers,  still  however  united  in  opposition  to  the 
authority  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  church  of  God. 
Yerse  41.  And  whereas  thou  sawest  the  feel  and  toes, 
part  of  potter  s  clay,  and  part  of  iron ;  the  kingdom 
shall  be  divided.  It  was  understood  too,  that  when 
Rome  should  undergo  such  change,  the  interests  of 
religion,    after    i)jving    suffered    great   depression. 


80  THE    PERIOD   OP   THE    SEALS. 

should  become  paramount,  and  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
be  established.  Verse  44.  In  the  days  of  these  kings 
shall  the  God  of  heaven  set  up  a  kingdom  which  shall 
never  he  destroyed.  A  still  more  specific  account  of 
these  same  four  great  empires  is  given  in  Daniel, 
chap.  vii.  under  the  character  of  beasts  of  prey. 
Verse  17.  These  great  beasts  which  are  four,  are  four 
kings.  The  fourth  of  these  had  ten  horns,  indicating 
the  tenfold  division  already  mentioned.  Verse  24. 
And  the  ten  horns  out  of  this  kingdom,  (the  fourth 
kingdom,  verse  23.)  are  ten  kings  that  shall  arise. 
This  power  under  a  new  form,  "  the  little  horn,"  pre- 
vailed for  a  time,  and  times,  and  the  dividing  of  time, 
until  true  religion  triumphed — Verse  22.  Until  the 
'time  came  that  the  saints  possessed  the  kingdom. 

These  predictions  presented  the  power  of  Rome, 
in  such  a  light,  as  could  not  fail  to  make  men  of 
liberal  information  look  upon  its  history  with  great 
anxiety.  From  prophecy,  they  had  a  right  to  ex- 
pect consistency  and  order;  and,  of  course,  that  the 
Roman  empire  should  not  be  overlooked  in  the  sys- 
tem of  predictions  relative  to  the  public  social  con- 
cerns of  the  christian  religion.  And  as  the  sealed 
book  of  Daniel  xii.  4.  was  opened  in  the  presence  of 
John  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  reasonable  to 
infer  that  it  had  some  respect  to  imperial  Rome — the 
kingdom  of  iron — the  fourth  great  wild  beast. 

2.  As  the  Roman  empire  cannot  be  overlooked  in 
this  prophecy,  it  is  equally  evident  that  the  view 
which  is  given  of  it  must  commence  from  the  apos- 
tolical  age. 


RULES   OF    INTERPRETATION.  81 

From  history  it  now  appears  that  three  great  and 
distinct  successive  characters  have  been  assumed  in 
tliis  empire,  since  tlie  christian  era.  It  long  existed 
under  the  system  of  heathen  superstition — It  con- 
tinued for  some  time  under  its  imperial  form,  pro- 
fessing the  christian  religion — It  has  now  for  ages,  in 
its  divided  state,  existed  in  the  maintenance  of  the 
Papal  system.  These  tlu-ee  terms  correspond  with 
the  three  periods  preceding  the  millennium — the 
Seals,  the  Trumpets,  and  the  Vials.  The  seals  are 
the  first  in  order,  and  of  course  belong  to  the 
first  great  period. 

3.  The  design  of  prophecy  furnishes,  for  the  at- 
tentive, a  key  to  each  great  part  of  the  system. 

This  design  we  have  already  explained  at  large. 
I  now  only  call  to  your  recollection,  that  to  furnish 
believers  with  ample  means  of  hope  and  of  faithfulness 
in  the  midst  of  their  troubles,  enters  into  that  de- 
sign. The  system  of  prophecy  describes  in  its 
course  the  perils  and  the  pains  of  the  saints ;  but  it 
closes  with  a  view  of  their  triumphs.  Each  great 
period  of  prophecy  will,  upon  attentive  examination, 
be  found  to  answer  this  design.  It  conducts  us  on  a 
part  of  our  journey,  and  after  the  toils  of  the  day, 
brings  us  to  a  place  of  refreshment  and  rest.  In  ex- 
hibiting the  state  of  the  church,  and  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire, during  the  conflicts  of  Christianity  witli  idolatry, 
it  might  be  expected  that  tlie  period  would  close 
with  the  overthrow  of  Paganism  by  the  judgments 
of  Zion's  mighty  King. 

L 


8B  THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  SEALS- 

4.  Inspection  of  the  prophecy  itself  furnishes  con- 
clusive evidence,  that  the  period  of  the  seals  is  the 
time  between  the  reign  of  Domitian  and  that  of  Con- 
stantine. 

Prediction  certainly  respects  futurity,  and  on  no 
principle  of  sound  criticism  are  we  justified  in  apply- 
ing the  Apocalyptical  seals  to  past  events.  The 
promise  made  to  the  apostle  is,  chap.  iv.  1.  Itvillshow 
thee  things  which  must  be  hereafter.  This  considera- 
tion precludes  our  adopting  the  opinions  of  those 
who  explain  the  seals,  or  any  one  of  them,  as  signi- 
fying what  had  already  come  to  pass.  The  sixth 
seal,  as  appears  from  the  text,  and  will  be  explained 
in  the  sequel  of  this  discourse,  describes  a  very  re- 
markable revolution.  The  terms  employed  cannot 
be  applied  to  any  event  prior  to  the  era  of  Constan- 
tine ;  and  that  time  perfectly  suits  the  description. 

I  am  aware  that  several  respectable  writers  have 
of  late  denied  that  any  advantage  was  obtained  by 
the  church  in  that  revolution.  If  this  were  indeed 
the  case,  it  could  not  have  been  represented  as  a  time 
of  triumph  to  the  saints.  But  on  this  subject  there 
is  great  need  of  discrimination.  If  we  follow  the 
path  of  scripture  prediction,  w^e  will  not  be  found 
at  variance  with  history. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  moral  character  or 
religious  standing  of  Constantine  himself,  and  we 
are  not  disposed  to  rate  them  highly,  the  events  of 
his  reign  were  undoubtedly  judgments  from  God 
upon  that  great  Pagan  power  that  long  annoyed  the 
saints.    If  he  also,  either  injudiciously  or  perverse- 


RULES    OP    INTERPRETATION.  83 

ly  intermeddled  unduly  with  ecclesiastical  concerns ; 
still,  the  actual  church,  real  christians,  found  in  his 
authority  and  plans,  a  shelter  from  their  Heathen 
persecutors.  Nor  were  persons  of  this  description 
so  much  atfected,  by  the  pernicious  system  of  state 
religion  wliich  he  introduced,  as  were  the  more  am- 
bitious and  worldly-minded  ecclesiastics,  who  took 
an  interest  in  the  pompous  hierarchy  to  which  he 
yielded  his  countenance.  While  the  higher  orders 
of  prelatical  pride,  those  creatures  of  hmnan  contri- 
vance, among  whom  true  religion  rarely  flourishes, 
were  deeply  engaged  in  the  political  management, 
which  respected  the  more  worldly  part  of  the  profes- 
sors of  Christianity ;  the  meek  followers  of  the  Lamb 
of  God,  had  cause  to  rejoice  in  the  restraint  which  was 
laid  upon  their  avowed  enemies.  In  this  point  of 
view,  the  revolution  was  a  signal  blessing.  Never- 
theless, the  "  fourth  kingdom"  .still  retained  its  beast- 
ly character — The  Roman  empire  remained  "the 
kingdom  of  iron."  The  government  of  the  empire, 
and  the  order  of  the  more  conspicuous  parts  of  the 
church,  were  by  no  means  accordant  with  the  princi- 
jjles  of  Christianity. 

As  the  "  sealed  book"  commences  with  the  time 
which  succeeded  John's  banishment  to  Patmos,  and 
the  sixth  seal  terminates  in  the  revolution  which  over- 
turned Pagan  Rome,  the  opening  of  the  six  seals 
must  of  course  disclose  the  leading  events  of  that 
PERIOD,  including  from   97   to   323,  two  hundred 

AND     TWENTY-SIX     YEARS. 

Although  we  have  already  proved  the  propriety 
of  applying  the  predictions  of  the  six  seals  to  the 


84  THE   PERIOD   O*-   THE    SEALS. 

Roman  empire,  as  it  existed  before  the  age  of  Con- 
stantine,  it  still  remains  to  inquire,  whether  these 
predictions  respect  its  civil  or  ecclesiastical  history. 
Jurieu,  and  bishop  Newton,  explain  all  the  seals  as 
descriptive  of  the  administration  of  the  imperial  go- 
vernment; Lord  Napier,  and  Mr.  Woodhouse,  es- 
teem  it  improper  to  apply  this  prophecy  to  any  other 
than  ecclesiastical  events.  Mede,  Lowman,  and 
Johnston,  apply  the  seals  to  both  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical events ;  and  they  appear  to  me  to  be  nearest 
the  truth.  Political  changes  are,  in  themselves,  be- 
neath the  notice  of  prophecy;  and  the  changes  of 
ecclesiastical  systems  are  often  mere  political  com- 
motions. There  is  little  diflerence  between  the 
transactions  of  statesmen  and  those  of  churchmen, 
as  to  their  morality,  or  as  it  respects  the  virtue  of  the 
public  agents.  Both  may  be  under  the  influence  of 
pious  principles,  and  both  have  often  been  actuated 
by  selfishness  and  malevolence.  Too  generally  has 
it  been  the  case  throughout  the  Roman  empire,  and 
the  several  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  that  there  was  no 
true  religion  in  the  hands  of  either  the  rulers  of  the 
church,  or  those  of  the  commonwealth.  The  differ- 
ence, as  to  actual  moral  worth,  between  Caiaphas  and 
Pontius  Pilate,  or  even  between  Laud,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  and  his  royal  master  Charles  1.  is 
no  cause  of  controversy.  But  although  there  is  in 
fact,  no  religion  in  the  transactions  of  such  civilians 
and  ecclesiastics,  true  religion  is  frequently  very 
deeply  affected  by  the  events  which  they  are  the  in- 
struments of  bringing  to  pass.  On  this  account,  the 
divine  prescience  has  been  employed  about  both. 


THE    FIRST    SEAL.  65 

and  both  have  a  place  in  the  system  of  sacred  pi-e- 
diction.  The  object  of  the  Apocalypse  is  to  illus- 
trate THOSE  GREAT  MORAL  PRINCIPLES  WHICH  AFFECT 
THE  PUBLIC  INTERESTS  OF  TRUE  RELKilON,  and  in  do- 
ing this,  it  employs  the  events  of  civil  history,  as 
well  as  those  which  are  considered  ecclesiastical. 
The  six  seals  are  of  course  intended  to  disclose 
those  events  within  the  specified  time,  which,  whether 
appertaining  to  civil  or  ecclesiastical  history,  are  of 
most  importance  to  be  understood  by  the  friends  of 
real  religion  in  the  world.     We  shall  proceed  to 

THE   INTERPRETATION 

Of  each  of  the  six  seals  in  order  as  they  were  opened 
by  our  Saviour.  He  alone  reveals  and  dispenses 
what  has  been  determined  upon  in  the  certain  secret 
purposes  of  God. 

Seal  I Verses  1,  2.  And  I  saw  when  the  Lamb 

opcr-d  one  of  the  seals;  and  I  heard  as  it  were  the  jioise 
of  t  under y  one  of  the  four  living  creatures ,  saying y 
ComCy  and  see.  And  I  saw,  and,  behold  a  white  horse; 
and  he  that  sat  on  him  had  a  bow  ;  and  a  crown  was  gi- 
ven to  him,  and  he  went  forth  conquering  and  to  con- 
quer. 

The  apostle,  attentively  beholding  the  Saviour, 
and  desirous  of  learning  the  character  of  the  age, 
observed  that  when  he  opened  the  first  seal,  a  part 
of  the  written  roll  was  unfolded.  In  order  to  per- 
suade us  to  mark  with  becoming  attention  each  dis- 
pensation of  divine  providence,  and  to  point  out  the 


86  THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  SEALS. 

duly  of  the  ministers  of  Christ  in  every  age,  in  ex- 
plaining the  signs  of  the  times,  one  of  "  the  living 
creatures"  in  a  voice  of  thunder  said.  Come  and  see. 
It  was  the  first  of  the  living  creatures  that  gave  thiis 
invitation.  Like  a  lion  he  communicated  his  com- 
mands in  a  voice  of  authority,  bold,  strong,  and  so- 
lemn. "  Come,  behold  the  works  of  the  Lord,"*  is 
a  precept  which  faithful  pastors  are  accustomed  to 
deliver. 

In  obedience  to  the  mandate,  .John  looked,  and  saw 
on  the  opened  leaf,  the  representation  of  a  monarch 
riding  forth  to  conquest. 

Behold,  a  white  horse.]  This  animal,  noted  for  his 
comeliness,  speed,  strength,  and  jfitness  for  the  ser- 
vice of  man,  is  the  symbol  of  the  instruments  God 
employs  in  the  dispensations  of  his  providence  to 
accomplish  his  purpose.  Wliite  is  the  emblem  of 
purity.  It  is  pleasant  to  the  sight :  and  it  symbolizes 
a  dispensation  of  purity  and  mercy. 

He  that  sat  on  him  had  a  bow ;  and  a  crown  was 
given  to  him :  and  he  went  forth  conquering  and  to  con- 
quer.] Bishop  Newton,  who  seems  to  have  been  en- 
tirely destitute  of  an  evangelical  taste,  and  conse- 
quently sees  as  much  purity  and  splendour  in  a 
heathen  warrior  as  in  the  dispensation  of  the  grace 
of  God,  applies  this  remarkable  passage  to  the  em- 
perors Yespasian  and  Titus.f  They  were  both 
numbered  with  the  victims  of  the  king  of  terrors, 
however,  before  the  sealed  book  was  opened.    The 

*  Psalm  xlvi.  8. 
t  The  bishop  adopted  this  interpretation  from  Jurieu. 


THE   FIRST    SEAL.  87 

prophecy,  therefore,  could  have  no  reference  to  them 
any  more  than  to  Augustus  or  Romulus.  In  order 
to  avoid  this  objection,  others  have  applied  the  pre- 
diction to  the  reign  of  Trajan.  AVliile  we  admit 
that  this  celebrated  emperor  possessed  admirable  ta- 
lents for  government,  and  was  very  successful  in  war, 
tlie  character  of  his  administration  by  no  means  com- 
ported with  the  symbol  of  the  first  seal.  To  chri??- 
tians  he  was  a  scourge.  Under  him  persecution  pre- 
vailed. He  often  conquered,  it  is  true ;  but  not  on 
a  "  white  horse,"  and  it  is  far  from  being  true,  that 
he  is  hereafter  to  conqmr.  He,  too,  has  ceased  to 
reign. 

The  symbol,  in  short,  can  apply  only  to  the  tri- 
umphs of  the  "  WORD  OF  GOD."  I  have  not  met 
with  any  plausible  objection  to  this  interpretation, 
save  what  arises  from  the  date  of  the  prediction.  But 
although  the  gospel  dispensation  commenced  several 
years  before  this  vision,  it  was  still  progressive. 
The  prophecy  does  not  respect  its  commencement ; 
but  its  progress,  and  its  future  triumphs.  This  was 
the  most  desirable  object  which  could  possibly  be 
presented  to  John  the  Divine,  or  to  the  church  of 
God.  And  it  is  evidently  a  matter  of  fact,  whether 
in  this  place  predicted  or  not,  that  Christianity 
was  then  progressive,  and  afterwards  to  proceed 
with  greater  power.  The  symbol  cannot  consist- 
ently be  explained  in  a  different  sense.  The  sacred 
language  forbids  any  other  signification.  Psalm  xlv. 
3 — 5.  "Gird  thy  sword  upon  thy  tliigh,  O  most 
mighty;  with  tliy  glory  and  thy  majesty.     And  in 


88  THE   PERIOD   OF    THE    SEALS. 

thy  majesty  ride  prosperously,  because  of  truth,  and 
meekness,  and  righteousness.  Thine  arrows  ai^ 
shai'p  in  the  hearts  of  the  King's  enemies ;  the  peo- 
ple fall  under  thee."  Compare  these  words  with  the 
text,  and  they  will  certainly  appear  to  apply  to  the 
same  character. 

The  first  seal,  therefore,  exhibits  to  the  pious  mind 
the  Mediator  riding  prosperously  upon  the  dispen- 
sation of  the  gospel  of  his  grace, — the  while  horse,  he- 
cause  of  truth,  and  meekness,  and  righteousness.  He 
held  in  his  Almighty  hand  the  weapons  of  spiritual 
warfare,  a  how,  with  arrows  sharp  in  the  heart  of  his 
enemies.  A  crown  was  given  to  him,  of  glory  and  ma- 
jesty ;  conquering  and  to  conquer,  the  people  fall  under 
him.  He  is  by  divine  appointment  the  governor  of 
the  imiverse.  He  rules  in  his  saints ;  he  rules  over 
his  enemies.  A  succession  of  conquests  shall  pre- 
pare the  way  for  his  final  triumphs.  Psalm  cxxxii. 
18.  "His  enemies  will  I  clothe  with  shame;  but 
upon  himself  shall  his  crown  flourish." 

If  these  considerations  could  leave  any  doubt  upon 
the  mind,  as  to  the  interpretation  noAv  given,  it  would 
be  completely  removed  by  a  portion  of  this  book, 
which  employs  this  very  symbol  in  a  connexion 
which  admits  not  of  an  application  to  any  Vespasian, 
or  Trajan,  or  indeed  any  mere  man,  or  company  of 
men.  Rev.  xix.  11.  "  Behold,  a  ivhite  horse  ;  and  he 
that  sat  on  him  was  called  faithfid  and  true — And  he 
was  clothed  with  a  vesture  dipped  in  blood,  and  his 
name  is  called  the  word  of  God — And  out  of  his 
mouth  goeth  a  sharp  sword,  that  with  ii  he  should 


SECOND    SEAL.  89 

simite  the  nalions — And  he  hath  on  his  vesture  and 
on  his  thii^h  a  name  nritten.  King  of  kings,  and 
Lord  of  lords."  This  last  vision,  under  the  se- 
venth vial,  completes  the  conquests  which  were  in 
progress  in  the  tirst  vision,  at  the  opening  of  the  first 
seal.  Such  is  the  commencement  and  termination  of 
this  prophecy. 

Seal  II.  Verses  3,  4.  And  when  he  had  opened 
the  second  sealy  I  heard  the  second  beast  say.  Come  and 
see.  And  there  went  otit  another  horse  that  was  red; 
and  power  was  given  to  him  that  sat  thereon  to  take 
peace  from  the  earth,  and  that  they  shoidd  kill  one 
another :  and  there  was  given  unto  him  a  great  sword. 

Cheered  with  tlie  prospect  afforded  to  hhn  of  the 
progress  of  the  gospel,  and  of  its  future  triumphs, 
the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse  is  prepared  to  bear 
with  becoming  patience  a  sight  of  the  troubles 
which  the  second  seal  announces.  As  the  first  "  li- 
ving creature," — the  lion,  invited  him  to  behold  the 
triumphs  of  the  cross,  the  second — like  the  calf  or 
ox,  calls  his  attention  to  the  contents  of  that  part  of 
the  roll  which  is  now  unfolded.  Labour  and  pa- 
tience, similar  to  those  of  an  ox,  are  the  becoming 
characteristics  of  the  christian  ministry  in  a  period 
of  sutferings. 

And  there  went  out  another  horse.]  A  Horse  is  the 
symbol  of  a  dispensation  of  providence.  By  its 
means,  providential  causes  proceed  to  their  end. 
Zech.  i.  8 — 10.  Behind  him  were  there  red  horses, 
speckled  and  white.     Then  said  /,  O  my  Lord,  what 

^] 


90  THE   PERIOD   OF   THE   SEALS. 

are  these  ? — These  are  they  whom,  the  Lord  hath  sent 
to  walk  to  and  fro  through  the  earth. 

The  heathen  consecrated  horses  to  the  sun,  be- 
cause the  sun  was  the  object  of  their  worship:;  and 
this  deity  was  represented  as  drawn  by  horses.  The 
Jews  fell  into  a  similar  kind  of  idolatry  before  the 
reign  of  Josiah.  2  Kings  xxiii.  11.  And  he  took  away 
the  horses  which  the  kings  of  Judah  had  given  to  the 
sun,  at  the  entering  in  of  the  house  of  the  Lord — And 
burnt  the  chariots  of  the  sun  withfire.^ 

Another  horse  that  was  red.']  This  is  the  colour  of 
blood,  and  indicates  the  character  of  the  dispensa- 
tion. It  was  a  bloody,  or  rather  a  fiery  one.  m^^og 
comes  from  nu^,  fire.  "The  angel,"  says  Wood- 
house,  "  who  leads  the  host  to  war  among  the  na- 
tions, Zech.  i.  8.  is  mounted  on  a  horse  of  the  same 
colour.  This  is  also  the  colour  of  the  dragon,  the 
ancient  serpent,  the  devil,  who  comes  wrathfully  to 
war  against  the  saints,"  Rev.  xii.  3,  9,  17. 

And  power  was  given  to  him  that  sat  thereon  to  take 
peace  from  the  earth.]  Earth,  in  common  language, 
has  a  variety  of  significations  not  difficult  to  distin- 
guish.    The  connexion  always  settles  the  proper 

*  The  Rabbins  inform  us  that  these  horses  were  every  morning 
harnessed  to  the  chariots,  dedicated  to  the  sun,  and  that  the  king  or 
some  of  his  officers,  got  up  and  rode  to  meet  the  sun  at  its  rising,  as 
far  as  from  the  eastern  gate  of  the  temple  to  the  suburbs  of  Jerusa- 
lem. Others  are  of  opinion,  that  they  were  horses  which  none  were 
permitted  to  ride  or  to  yoke,  but  were  like  those  which  Julius  Caesar 
set  at  liberty  after  his  passage  of  the  Rubicon.  The  Persians  had 
such  horses,  as  well  as  the  ancient  Germans.  Those  belonging  to 
the  Persians  were  streaked  or  pied:  Those  of  the  Germans  all 
white.     Herodian  calls  them  A;es  'l^r^a*.     Calmet. 


SECOND    SEAL.  91 

meaning.  It  signifies  the  whole  terraqueous  globe ; 
the  dry  land,  as  distinguished  from  the  sea ;  and 
clay,  or  soil,  as  distinguished  from  sand  and  rocks. 
In  science,  earth  denotes  certain  brittle  inodorous 
substances,  such  as  lune,  aluniine,  &c.  distinguished 
from  metals,  and  acids,  &c.  ^y  a  very  common 
figure  of  speech  it  designates  the  inhabitants  of  tlie 
world,  or  of  some  distinct  part  of  the  world  ;  and  the 
scriptures  very  frequently  connect  with  the  word, 
the  idea  of  sensuality  and  corrupt  affections. 

In  this  text,  and  in  all  such  connexion  in  this  pro- 
phecy, earth  signifies  the  Roman  empire.  This  is 
evidently  its  meaning  in  various  parts  of  the  New 
Testament ;  and  the  reason  is,  that  it  was  well  known 
that  this  empire  w-as  in  general  estimation,  as  well 
as  in  scriptural  account,  a  universal  empire.*  Judea 
itself  has  been  called  the  earth,  Psalm  xlviii.  2.  con- 
sidered as  the  place  of  the  saints — the  religious 
world;  and  each  of  the  four  great  empires,  the  Chal- 
dean, the  Persian,  the  Grecian,  and  the  Roman,  have 
in  tlieii'  turn,  been  thus  designated,  as  constituting  in 
succession,  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  'political  ivorld.f 
Daniel  particularly,  whose  sealed  prophecy  is  ex- 
plained by  the  opening  of  the  Apocalyptical  seals, 
denominates  the  Roman  empire,  "  the  fourth  king- 
dom upon  the  earth  ;"t  and  it  is  meet  that  earth 
should,  on  that  account,  be  employed  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse, as  the  symbol  of  that  empire. 

To  take  peace  from  the  earth,  is  to  involve  the 
empue  in  war,  that  they  should  kill  one  another.     And 

*  Luke  ii.  1 .    t  Dan.  iv.  1 ,    Ezra  i.  2.    Dan.  viii.  5,  21 . 
t  Dan.  vii.  23. 


92  THE   PERIOD   OF   THE    SEALS. 

for  this  purpose,  the  symbol  of  military  commission 
was  conferred  on  him  that  sat  upon  the  Jiery  steed ; 
there  was  given  unto  him  a  great  sword. 

"  He  that  sits  on  the  horse"  is  the  one  who  con- 
ducts the  dispensation  to  its  proper  end,  and  by  no 
means  the  human  instrument  that  may  have  been 
providentially  employed  in  bringing  about  the  event. 
It  was  not,  therefore,  Trajan  and  Adrian,  the  Roman 
emperors,  as  bishop  Newton  imagines,  that  conducted 
the  destinies  of  the  world,  although  they  were  in- 
struments of  divine  vengeance.  It  is  to  the  angel 
of  the  covenant,  the  high  conunission  of  executing 
judgment,  was  given.  "I  had  a  vision  by  night, 
Christ  the  angel  of  the  covenant,  represented  himself 
to  me  as  a  man  riding  on  a  red  horse — and  behind 
him  Avere  several  angels  ready  to  attend  his  com- 
mands." (Bishop  Hall  on  Zech.  i.  8.)  "  The  man, 
or  angel,  denotes  the  Logos,  or  Son  of  God,  appear- 
ing as  the  captain  of  God's  hosts,  or  armies. — They 
answer  this  man  or  angel  as  if  he  were  their  superior 
or  commander."  (Lowth.)  "  A  man,  one  in  human 
form,  even  the  Son  of  God,  who  afterwards  became 
man  for  our  salvation ;  and  he  sat  like  a  warrior  on  a 
red  horse,  as  about  to  execute  vengeance  on  the  ene- 
mies of  his  people."  (Scott.) 

This  prophecy  was  accomplished  in  the  terrible 
wars  which  were  waged  within  the  bounds  of  the 
empire  during  the  reign  of  Trajan  and  Adrian.  The 
christians  suffered,  at  different  periods,  great  perse- 
cution; and  the  Jews  and  the  Heathen,  the  com- 
mon enemies  of  the  christian  faith,  inflicted  upon 
one  another  the  judgments  of  the  Almighty.  It  was 
emphatically  a  bloody  dispensation.      The  Heathen 


THIRD    SEAL.  93 

rasped,  the  kingdoms  nerc  moved :  he  uttered  his  voicey 
the  earth  melted — Come,  behold  the  works  of  the  Lordy 
what  desolations  he  hath  made  in  the  earth. 

Seal  III.  Verses  5,  6.  And  nhen  he  had  opened 
the  third  seal,  I  heard  the  third  living  ereature  say. 
Come,  and  see.  And  I  beheldy  and  lo,  a  black  horse  ; 
and  he  that  sat  on  him  had  a  pair  of  balances  in  his 
hand.  And  I  heard  a  voice  in  the  ?nidst  of  the  four 
living  creatures  sai/y  a  measure  of  wheat  for  a  pennyy 
and  three  measures  of  barley  for  a  penny ;  and  see 
thou  hurt  not  the  oil  and  the  wine. 

The  third  living  creature,  who  now  invites  us  to  a 
contemplation  of  the  symbol  exposed  to  view  on  that 
part  of  the  roll  which  was  unfolded  by  breaking  the 
third  seal,  is  said.  Rev.  iv.  7.  to  have  the  face  of  a 
man.  Correct  reasoning,  and  humane  feeling,  are 
indicated  by  this  symbol.  They  are  at  all  times  or- 
namental to  the  character  of  the  christian  ministry, 
but  especially  in  a  time  of  sensible  afflictions.  To 
sympathize  with  the  poor,  and  reason  with  the  pious, 
in  order  to  convince  them  of  the  justness  and  the 
kindness  of  the  divine  dispensations,  is  the  duty  of 
a  pastor  to  his  distressed  flock. 

The  black  horse.]  Is  the  representative  of  famine. 
Lam.  V.  10.  "Our  skin  was  black  like  an  oven,  be- 
cause of  the  terrible  famine."  The  other  symbols 
lead  to  the  same  idea. 

He  that  sat  on  him  had  a  pair  of  balmices.']  Zvyog 
from  Zivfu  to  join,  literally  signifies  that  which  joins 
together.  It  is  generally  rendered  yoke.  After  all 
the  learning,  however,  employed  by  Mr.  AVood- 
house,  in  his  endeavours  to  fasten  that  meaning  upon 


94  TtfE   PERIOD   OF   THE    SEALS. 

it  in  this  text,  we  think  the  translators  have  acted 
coiTCctly  in  rendering  it  a  scale,  or  pair  of  balances. 
«  In  this  sense  it  is  applied  not  only  by  profane  wri- 
ters, but  frequently  by  the  authors  of  the  Septuagint, 
for  the  Hebrew  d^jtnd  a  pah'  of  scales."*  This 
sense  better  suits  the  context.  It  exhibits  the  neces- 
saries of  life  as  very  scarce.  Ezek.  iv.  16.  "  Behold, 
I  will  break  the  staff  of  bread  in  Jerusalem;  and 
they  shall  eat  bread  by  weight,  and  with  care ;  and 
they  shall  drink  water  by  measure,  and  with  astonish- 
ment." 

A  measure  of  wheat  for  a  penny. '\  Both  Grotius 
and  Vitringa  have  remarked,  that  the  measure  of 
wheat,  Xoiv<|,  was  a  man's  daily  allowance ;  and  that 
a  penny,  Avjvoi^<of,  was  the  daily  wages  of  a  common 
labourer.  The  design  of  this  expression,  is  therefore 
to  show,  that  although  there  is  not  a  universal  want 
of  bread ;  there  is  a  great  scarcity  among  the  lower 
ranks  of  life.  Honest  industry  cannot  secure  a  com- 
petency. A  labouring  man  may  earn  his  own  bread; 
but  cannot  provide  for  his  wife  and  children.f 

Of  the  luxuries  of  life,  the  oil  and  the  wine,  there  is 
no  scarcity.    The  affluent  do  not  feel  the  famine  of 

*  Parkhurst. 
f  X9<yj|  c-tm  S'tDitt^ia.  The  Clioenix  is  allowed  to  be  about  a  pint 
and  a  half;  and  the  Roman  Denarius  about  fourteen  cents.  As 
there  are  32  quarts,  or  128  half-pints  in  a  bushel,  the  Choenix  is 
not  quite  one-fortieth  part  of  a  bushel.  Allow  it,  however,  to  be 
the  fortieth  part,  and  at  fourteen  cents,  the  price  of  the  bushel  will 
be  g5  60.  This  price,  when  the  wages  of  a  day-labourer  was  so 
low  as  fourteen  cents  indicates  great  famine.  Dabuz  shows  from 
ancient  authorities  that  in  time  of  plenty  twenty  Chcenixes  were 
sold  for  a  Denarius.  The  scarcity  must  be  great  when  the  price 
of  wheat  is  raised  twenty  to  one ;  and  other  bread-corn  is  in  pro- 
portion. 


FOURTH    SEAL.  95 

the  land.  But  as  the  great  body  of  the  christians, 
and  probably  too  the  most  humble  and  faithful,  are 
found  among  tlie  industrious,  the  middle  ranks  of 
life,  if  not  among  the  poor,  such  a  dispensation  will 
by  them  be  painfully  felt. 

Such  is,  in  fiict,  the  picture  which  history  gives  of 
the  times  succeeding  the  reign  of  Adrian.  From 
the  year  138,  when  the  Antonine  family  were  raised 
to  the  Imperial  throne,  until  the  time  of  Severus, 
there  was  great  suffering  for  want  of  provisions 
throughout  the  Roman  empire.  Of  Ibis  the  chris- 
tians were  previously  admonished. 

Seal  IV.  Verses  7,  8.  And  when  he  had  opened 
the  fourth  seal,  I  heard  the  voice  of  the  fourth  living 
creature  say.  Come,  and  see.  And  I  looked,  and  he- 
hold,  a  paU  horse,  and  his  name  that  sat  on  him  rvas 
death ;  and  hell  followed  with  him :  and  power  was 
given  iinto  them,  over  the  fourth  part  of  the  earth,  to 
kill  with  sword,  with  hunger,  and  with  death,  and  with 
the  beasts  of  the  field. 

An  eagle-eyed,  spiritually-minded  ministry,  invites 
us  to  this  scene  of  wo.  It  is  better  to  go  to  the 
house  of  mourning  than  to  the  house  of  feasting. 
The  sword  and  the  famine  are  now  followed  by  the 
pestilence — A  pale  horse.  Pallidum  mortem  dicunt 
poelse.  (Grotius.) 

In  this  dispensation  of  holy  providence,  the  king 
of  terrors  appears;  and  hell  followed  with  him.  Our 
Saviour,  nevertheless,  still  conducts  the  destroying 
angel  whithersoever  he  will.  Before  him  went  the 
pestilence,  for  he  has  the  keys  of  hell  and  death.  At; 
the  command  of  the  Medialoi-,  Ihc  agent?  employed 


96  THE    PERIOD   OF   THE    SEALS. 

execute  their  task.  Death  triumphs,  and  Hades  is 
satiated  with  her  prey.  The  sword  is  continued; 
the  famine  still  destroys  the  life  of  man ;  the  beasts 
of  prey,  the  persecutors,  are  not  yet  effectually  re- 
strained ;  but  the  most  remarkable  characteristic  of 
the  age  is  pestilence — the  pale  livid-green  horse.* 
Mr.  Mede  observes  from  Zonaras  and  Lipsius,  "  that 
a  pestilence  arising  from  Ethiopia,  went  through  all 
the  provinces  of  Rome,  and  for  fifteen  years  together, 
wasted  them."  This  judgment  which  destroyed 
about  the  fourth  part  of  the  population  of  the  Ro- 
man empire,  continued  from  21 1  to  270,  a  period  of 
sixty  years.  "  Of  the  reign  of  Gallus  and  Volusian 
Eutropius  gives  this  short  character.  They  were 
memorable  only  for  pestilence  and  grievous  distem- 
pers. Sola  pestileiitia,  et  morbisy  atque  agriludinihus, 
notus  eoruni  imncipatusfuiL'^f 

Seal  V.  Verses  9 — 11.  And  when  he  had  opened 
the  fifth  seal,  I  saw  under  the  altar  the  souls  of  them 
that  were  slain  for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testi- 
mony which  they  held :  And  they  cried  with  a  loud  voice, 
saying.  How  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou 
not  judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on 
the  earth  ?  And  white  robes  were  given  to  every  one 
of  them ;  and  it  was  said  unto  them,  that  they  should 
rest  yet  for  a  little  season,  until  their  fellow-servants 
also,  and  their  brethren  that  should  be  killed  as  they 
were,  should  be  fulfilled. 

By  the  preceding  persecutions,  a  vast  number  of 
christians  suffered  martyrdom.     The  enemy  killed 

t  Lowman. 


FIFTH    .SEAL.  97 

their  bodies;  but  had  no  means  of  killing  their  sonls. 
A  martyr,  is  a  witness :  and  a  clnistian  martyr,  is  a 
witness  who  understands,  wlio  believes,  and  who 
maintains  Christianity  at  every  risk.  Those  only, 
who  were  slain  for  the  word  of  (lod,  and  the  testi- 
mony which  in  conformity  to  that  word  they  held, 
are  in  the  sense  of  this  text,  reputed  martyrs.  How- 
ever firmly  and  constantly  men  may  maintain  other 
principles  than  those  which  are  sanctioned  by  the 
word  of  God,  such  men  have  no  concern  in  the  pre- 
sent prophecy. 

The  souls  of  the  martyrs  were  under  the  altar, 
living  in  the  enjoyment  of  tlie  benefits  of  the  great 
sacrifice,  and  of  the  reconciliation  with  God  which 
that  sacrifice  secured  to  believers. 

They  still  trust  in  the  Lord,  and  although  they  suf- 
fered for  his  sake,  they  are  persuaded  of  his  holiness 
and  truth.  They  accordingly  appeal  to  his  justice 
as  the  Judge  of  the  universe,  and  confidently  carry 
their  cause  before  him  of  whom  it  is  written,  "  ven- 
geance is  mine,  I  w ill  repay, saith  the  Loid."  Their 
appeal  is  admitted,  and  a  reply  is  immediately  given 
to  them.  Each  of  them  is  clothed  in  white, — justi- 
fied, and  publicly  recognized  as  justified  by  the  im- 
puted righteousness  of  .Tesus  Christ — fine  linen  clean 
and  white,  which  is  the  only  righteousness  of  the 
saints. 

Notwithstanding  the  comfort  aflforded  to  the  pious 
mind  at  the  opening  of  the  first  seal,  the  scenes  of 
distress  and  horror  which  appeared  under  the  three 
following  seals,  were  such  as  to  appal  the  stoutest 
heart.  It  is  not  easy  to  ascertain  or  to  describe  tlic 
N 


98  THE   PERIOD   OP   THE    SEALS. 

number  of  actual  persecutions  under  Pagan  Rome. 
Some  of  these  persecutions  were  provincial,  and 
others  were  universal.  The  power  of  Rome,  claim- 
ed the  right  of  deciding  upon  the  religion  of  its  sub- 
jects, and  from  this  principle,  as  impious  as  it  is  cruel, 
flowed  both  toleration  and  persecution.  The  prin- 
ciple was  reduced  to  practice,  as  the  tyrannical  poli- 
cy of  the  fourth  beast  dictated.  The  religions  of 
the  conquered  provinces  were  tolerated  as  often  as 
it  suited  this  policy.  The  several  kinds  of  idolatry 
having  little  hostility  to  each  other,  because  all  flow- 
ed from  the  same  fountain  of  falsehood,  were  per- 
fectly capable  of  intermixture  ;  and  thus  the  gods  of 
the  subjugated  nations  were  recognized  at  Rome, 
and  admitted  to  the  Pantheon.  It  was  far  otherwise 
with  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  a  divine  Mediator. 
Christianity  could  make  no  coirpromise  with  false 
religion.  There  is  no  communion  between  light  and 
darkness.  Its  demands  upon  men  are  great.  It  re- 
quires the  whole  heart  and  life.  These  demands 
excited  corresponding  provocation;  and  in  propor- 
tion as  worldly  policy  directed,  the  church  was  either 
tolerated  or  persecuted.  Primitive  writers  were  in 
the  habits  of  reckoning  ten  very  extensive  or  univer- 
sal persecutions.  They  are  enumerated  by  Dr.  Cave 
as  follow,  viz. 

PERSECUTION 

1,  Commenced  A.  D.  64,  under  the  emperor  Nero 

2, 90,     ...    .       Domitian 

3, 107, Trajan 


FIFTH    SEAL. 

99 

4,      .     . 

.      .         A.    D.    118, 

.     .          Adrian 

5,      .     . 

.     .     ,     .          163,     . 

.     .     .       Verus 

6,      .     . 

....         202, 

.     .        Severus 

7,      ,     . 

....          23.5, 

.     .     .  Maxiiiiinus 

8,      .     . 

....          2.'i0, 

.     .     .     Decius 

9,      .     . 

....          257, 

.     .       Valerian 

10,      .     . 

....          303, 

.     .    Dioclesian 

These  were  not  all  the  persecutions  which  took 
place  under  Pagan  power.  The  number  of  pro- 
vincial and  universal  persecutions  taken  together  far 
exceeded  ten ;  but,  the  universal  persecutions  taken 
separately,  did  not  amount  to  that  number.  Tliose 
mentioned  by  Dr.  Cave,  nevertheless,  whether  pro- 
vincial or  universal,  were  certainly  so  great  as  to 
merit  particular  notice. 

The  peculiar  design,  however,  of  the  fifth  seal,  is 
to  illustrate  doctrines  of  vast  importance  to  the 
church. 

It  exhibits,  in  a  safe  state  of  conscious  activity, 
the  souls  of  christians,  immediately  on  their  separa- 
tion from  the  body ;  and  accordingly,  sets  aside  the 
idea  of  the  Materialists,  that  death  affects  the  soul 
as  well  as  the  body.  I  saw  under  the  altar  the  souls 
of  them  that  were  slain — and  they  cried  nith  a  loud 
voice. 

It  demonstrates  the  principle,  that  beings  perfect 
in  holiness  and  in  happiness,  and  consequently  free 
from  malevolence,  may  earnestly  desire  to  behold 
just  judgments  executed  upon  the  ungodly  persecu- 
tors. Christians,  accordingly,  may  consistently  pray 
for  the  punishment  of  theii-  enemies.    Haw  long,  O 


lOO  THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  SEALS- 

Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge 
Our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  ? 

It  exhibits  the  principle  of  retaliation  as  a  part 
of  the  system  of  God's  moral  government.  This 
principle  we  shall  illustrate  more  fully  in  our  expo- 
sition of  the  judgment  of  the  third  vial.  It  may  be 
sufficient  in  this  place  to  quote  the  judicious  re- 
marks of  Dr.  Johnston.  "  It  seems  to  be  an  essen- 
tial part  in  the  constitution  of  God's  moral  govern- 
ment of  the  world,  that  the  vengeance  of  heaven 
shall  follow  those  men,  who,  with  malevolent  hearts, 
imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  their  fellow-men. 
The  voice  of  Abel's  blood  cried  to  God  from  the 
groimd,  for  vengeance  on  the  guilty  head  of  Cain. 
This  is  the  express  declaration  of  God.  Gen.  ix.  5, 6. 
Surely,  your  blood  of  your  lives  will  I  require — at  the 
hand  of  man,  at  the  hand  of  every  man's  brother  will  I 
require  the  life  of  man.  Whoso  shtddeth  man's  blood, 
by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed:  for  in  the  image  of  God 
made  he  man. 

"  When  innocent  blood  is  shed,  not  by  individuals 
merely,  but  by  communities  of  men ;  it  seems  to  be 
peculiarly  fit  that  vengeance  should  be  taken  on 
those  communities  in  this  world,  in  the  course  of  di- 
vine providence,  independent  of  that  account,  which 
every  guilty  individual  must  give  for  himself  at  the 
bar  of  God.  As  it  is  only  in  this  world  that  com- 
munities exist  in  their  collective  capacity,  it  is  in  this 
world  only  that  they  can  be  punished  in  their  public 
character." 

Retaliation  is  to  be  exercised  upon  them  that  dwell 
&n  the  earth.    The  earth  we  have  already  shown,  is 


SIXTH    SEAL.  101 

the  Roman  empire.     And  that  empire  shall  be  over- 
thrown. 

Tlie  fifth  seal  shows  the  time  when  this  event  shall 
come  to  pass — AYhen  anlichristian  Rome  shall  have 
completed  her  persecutions.  The  martyrs  are  re- 
quired to  have  patience  until  with  that  empire  the 
cup  of  iniquity  be  full;  and  then  sliall  the  fourth 
beastly  power  be  destroyed.  Then  "  shall  the  saints 
possess  tlie  Ivingdom."  And  it  was  said  u?ifo  them, 
that  they  shoidd  rest  yet  for  a  little  season^  until  their 
feUon'-s  err  ants  also,  and  their  brethren,  llieit  should  be 
killed  as  they  were,  should  be  fulfilled. 

Seal  Vr  Verses  12 — 17.  And  I  beheld  when  he 
had  opened  the  sixth  seal,  and  lo,  there  was  a  great 
earthquake ;  and  the  sun  became  blaek  as  sackcloth  of 
hair,  and  the  moon  became  as  blood;  and  the  stars  of 
heaven  fell  unto  the  earth,  even  as  a  fig-tree  casteth  her 
untimely  figs,  when  she  is  shaken  of  a  mighty  wind: 
and  the  heaven  departed  as  a  scroll  when  it  is  rolled  to- 
gether ;  and  every  mountain  and  island  were  moved  out 
of  their  places :  And  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  the 
great  men,  and  the  rich  men,  and  the  chief  captains, 
and  the  mighty  men,  and  every  bondman,  and  every 
free-man,  hid  themselves  in  the  dens,  and  in  the  rocks  of 
the  mountains  ;  And  said  to  the  mountains  and  rocks. 
Fall  on  us,  and  hide  us  from  the  face  of  him  that  sit- 
leth  on  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb: 
For  the  great  day  of  his  wrath  is  come;  and  who  shall 
he  able  to  stand  ? 

It  has  been  justly  said  by  several  able  expositors 
thatthis  magniiicent  description  is  borrowed  from  the 


102  THE   PERIOD   OF    THE    SEALS. 

great  day  of  final  retribution.     Then  shall  the  Lord 
say  to  the  Redeemer,  his  vice-gerent. 

Go  then,  thou  mightiest,  in  thy  Father's  might; 
Ascend  my  chariot ;  guide  the  rapid  wheels 
That  shake  heaven's  basis;  bring  forth  all  my  war. 
Pursue  the  sons  of  darkness,  drive  them  out 
From  all  heaven's  bounds,  into  the  utter  deep; 
There  let  them  learn,  as  likes  them,  to  despise 
God,  and  Blessiah,  his  anointed  King.* 

Seeing  also,  that  the  scenes  referred  to  in  these 
vei-ses,  belong  to  the  day  of  judgment,  there  are  not 
wanting  men  who  consider  the  sixth  seal  as  display- 
ing that  last  and  awful  period.  This  opinion  is  as 
ancient  as  the  days  of  Cyprian.  It  is,  nevertheless, 
founded  upon  very  inaccurate  principles  of  interpre- 
tation. 

In  the  predictions  of  the  Apocalypse,  throughout, 
the  great  doctrines  of  the  christian  religion  are  taken 
for  granted;  and  although  frequently  referred  to 
and  illustrated,  it  is  not  the  object  of  this  part  of 
the  sacred  volume,  so  much  to  reveal  doctrines,  as 
predict  events  which  were  otherwise  either  scarcely 
or  not  at  all  foreknown.  I'he  doctrine  of  future  re- 
tribution is  always  taken  for  granted  in  this  prophe- 
cy, and  is  very  often  referred  to,  as  affording  an  il- 
lustration of  the  several  objects  of  the  sacred  pre- 
diction ;  but  in  no  one  instance  in  the  Apocalypse 
is  it  the  object  of  a  prophecy  to  predict  the  day  of 
judgment.  That  event  is  too  certain,  upon  other 
principles,  to  stand  in  need  of  a  particular  prophecy 

*  Miltoir. 


SIXTH    SEAL.  103 

io  assure  us  that  it  shall  come.  Before  we  can  have 
mucli  interest  in  reading  or  hearing  the  revelation 
made  to  John  the  divine,  we  must  be  convinced  that 
it  is  appointed  unto  all  men  once  to  die ;  and  after 
death  the  judgment.  Every  christian  minister  en- 
deavours to  keep  this  doctrine  continually  before  his 
congregation ;  but  he  cannot  on  that  account  be  said 
to  prophesy  that  there  shall  be  a  day  of  universal  re- 
tril)ution.  Equally  improper  would  it  be  to  say  that 
the  sixth  seal  is  a  prophecy  of  the  day  of  judgment. 
The  imagery,  employed  as  the  symbol,  belongs  in- 
deed to  that  day ;  but  it  is  here  employed  to  predict 
quite  another  event.  This  is  done  upon  the  princi- 
ple that  the  Judge  of  the  universe,  will  also  judge 
each  community,  as  such,  in  its  proper  time  ;  and  that 
all  these  partial  judgments  lead  us  to  meditate  upon, 
and  prepare  for  that  which  is  final  and  universal. 
In  many  places,  besides  the  passage  of  scripture  now 
under  consideration,  the  description  of  the  day  of 
judgment  is  employed  by  the  prophets  to  represent 
the  fall  and  punishment  of  states  and  empires ; — of 
Babylon,  by  Isa.  xiii.  of  Egypt,  by  Ezek.  xxx.  2 — A, 
and  xxxii.  7,  8.  of  Jerusalem,  by  Jeremiah,  Joel, 
and  by  our  Lord,  Matt.  xxiv.  Assuredly,  that  judg- 
ment which  it  pleased  God  to  inflict  upon  the  Roman 
empire,  in  which  Paganism  and  its  persecuting  sup- 
porters were  overthrown,  merits  as  magnificent  a 
description  as  the  fall  of  Egypt  or  Babylon. 

To  this  event  alone  the  prophecy,  in  chronological 
order,  can  with  propriety  be  applied.  In  all  its 
parts  the  prediction  is  accomplished  in  that  great  re- 
volution which  took  place  under  Constantine,  the  first 
©f  the  emperors  who  professed  tlie  christian  religion. 


104  THE   PERIOD   OF   THE   SEALS. 

"  The  great  and  various  struggles  and  evils,"  said 
Dr.  Johnston,  "  by  which  this  revolution  in  the  em- 
pire was  brought  about,  began  in  the  three  hundred 
and  sixth  year  of  the  cliristian  era.  I'his  was  the 
very  year  in  which  the  events  predicted  under  the 
fourth  seal  ended.  The  fifth  seal  did  not  take  up 
any  period  of  time,  as  must  be  evident  from  its  na- 
ture, as  already  explained.  Hence,  the  events  pre- 
dicted under  this  sixth  seal,  in  course  of  time,  must 
follow  upon  those  predicted  under  the  fourth  seal." 

The  earthquake,  or  rather,  as  bishop  Newton  ren- 
ders the  word,  the  concussion,  Msj^a?  'ZiKrixog,  affected 
the  political  heavens  and  earth.  The  sun,  the  em- 
blem of  supreme  Pagan  imperial  power,  the  moon 
and  ihe  stars,  the  other  great  departments  of  state, 
were  eclipsed  or  hurried  from  their  orbits.  The  hea- 
vens departed  as  a  scroll  which  is  folded  up,  the  frame 
of  government  was  itself  altered,  and  rendered  sub- 
ordinate to  the  christian  faith.  The  kings,  the  cap- 
tains, the  masters,  and  the  slaves,  who  opposed  the 
religion  of  the  Son  of  God,  were  filled  with  conster- 
nation ;  and,  in  vain,  sought  a  shelter  from  the  wrath 
of  the  Lamb.  Stripped  of  their  honours,  of  their 
wealth,  and  of  their  power,  the  great  were  humbled 
in  the  dust,  and  left  to  perish  without  hope.  De- 
prived of  their  protection,  the  idolatrous  and  impi- 
ous servants,  shared  in  the  downfall  and  despair  of 
their  masters. 

The  principal  instrument  employed  by  a  benevo- 
lent providence  in  executing  this  judgment,  was  ad- 
mirably qualified  for  the  undertaking.    The  time 


t 

^ 


THE    SIXTH    SEAL.  105 

liad  not  yet  arrived  for  sanrlifvincr  the  thrones  of  the 
nations,  and  establishing  Mount  Zion  in  her  millen- 
nial glory ;  but  the  church  required  a  respite  from 
persecutions. 

True  religion  is  not  indeed  for  some  time  to  com^ 
to  extend  righteousness  and  peace  over  all  lands; 
but  such  an  external  support  nmst  be  given  to  Chris- 
tianity, as  shall  effectually  destroy  the  power  of 
heathenism,  and  rescue  from  its  oppression  the 
SAINTS  of  tlie  J\Iost  High.* 

Constantine  was  raised  up  by  the  Sovereign  of  the 
universe  to  answer  this  purpose.  He  was  the  son  of 
Constantius  Chlorus,  who,  together  with  Galerius,  at- 
tained to  the  imperial  dignity  upon  that  extraordina- 
ry event,  the  voluntary  resignation,  at  the  same 
time,  of  the  two  emperors  Dioclesian  and  Maxi- 
mian.  Constantius  became  en)peror  of  the  AVest, 
and  Galerius  governed  the  eastern  regions  of  the  em- 
pire. Constantine  was  in  the  thiily-second  year 
of  his  age  when  his  father  died,  and  left  him  his 
successor    in    the    imperial    dignity,   with  his   dy- 

^  Such  Tvas  the  effect  of  the  success  of  Constantine.  Like  the 
revolution  of  1688,  effected  nearer  our  own  times,  though  u[)on  a 
smaller  scale — that  which  placed  king  William  upon  the  British 
throne,  and  freed  our  brethren  in  that  land  from  the  desola- 
ting power  of  tyranny  and  superstition,  wielded  by  the  house  of 
Stuart,  the  revolution  of  325  deserves  to  be  remembered  with 
gratitude  to  God.  William  bore  a  resemblance  to  Constantine, 
He  was  crafty,  heroic,  and  ambitious.  He  knew  how  to  make  reli- 
gion serve  a  political  turn.  He  afforded  protection  to  real  christians. 
He  patronized  what  he  saw  proper  to  establish  as  the  slate  religion. 
As  to  personal  religion,  from  any  thing  that  appears  in  history,  hfi 
Tvas  very  indifferent. 

o 


% 


106  THE   PERIOD    OP   THE    SEALS. 

ing  advice  to  be  friendly  to  the  christians.  Gale- 
rius.  Emperor  over  the  East,  reluctantly  recognized 
the  elevation  of  Constantine;  but  afterwards  ap- 
pointed, in  opposition,  »■  everus  to  the  imperial  dig- 
nity, and  after  his  fall,  Licinius.  I^laxentius,  a  rival 
claimant  of  the  throne,  had  actually  possessed  him- 
self of  Rome  the  capital  of  the  empire :  and  Maxi- 
min,  another  pretender,  claiming  under  the  title  of 
Severus,  disputed  for  the  supremacy  in  the  east. 

Such  was  the  distracted  condition  of  the  Roman 
empire  when  Constantine  ascended  to  its  highest  of- 
fice. He  had  to  fight  his  way  against  his  rivals;  and 
he  was  successful.  With  an  army  principally  com- 
posed of  professed  christians,  he  oveilhrew  Maxen- 
tius  at  the  gates  of  Rom^ ;  and  published  an  edict 
immediately  in  support  of  the  christian  religion. 
This  took  place  in  312,  but  his  rivals  in  power  con- 
tinued for  eleven  years  thereafter  to  oppose  Chris- 
tianity with  all  their  might.  Maximin  had  indeed 
perished  in  a  state  of  madness;  but  Licinius  remain- 
ed the  Fole  hope  of  Pagan  idolatry,  to  dispute  with 
Constantine  the  empire  of  the  world.  He  too  fell  in 
the  year  323,  and  left  his  rival  to  pursue  his  own 
plans  without  opposition. 

Christianity  now  became  the  religion  of  the  em- 
pire. The  lights  of  Paganism  were  cast  to  the 
ground.  Constantine  assumed  the  supreme  power 
over  the  church ;  modelled  it  according  to  the  forms 
which  he  introduced  into  the  State  ;  and  in  order  to 
perpetuate  his  name,  and  the  remembrance  of  the  re- 
volution which  he  effected,  he  translated  the  seat  of 
government  from  the  city  of  Seven  Hills,  where  it 


CONCLUSION.  107 

tiad  remained  upwards  of  one  thousand  years,  and 
established  it  in  a  new  city,  built  with  the  utmost 
splendour,  which  he  called  Constantinople.  This 
Revolution  puts  an  end  to  the  period  of  the  seals  : 
and  1,  brethren,  will  bring  the  Lecture  unto  a  speedy 

conclusion. 

In  this  interpretation  of  the  first  great  prophetic 
period,  laid  open  by  the  removal  of  six  of  the  seven 
seals  from  the  book  which  was  delivered  to  Messiah, 
I  have  endeavoured  to  keep  constantly  in  your  view 
the  M()R  AL  PRINCIPLES  which  the  prophecy  was 
irtended  to  illustrate.  Every  Roman  history  will 
furnish  you,  who  have  leisure  and  inclination  to  pursue 
this  subject,  with  ample  evidence  of  the  facts  which 
I  iave  asserted.  Quotations  might  be  multiplied. 
This  is  not  a  subject,  however,  about  which  Commen- 
tators generally  are  at  variance.  AVith  few  excep- 
tions they  support  the  exposition  now  given.  You 
will  find  an  ample  collection  of  historical  documents 
in  illustration  of  the  six  seals,  in  Lowman  and  John- 
ston, and  in  Mede  and  Newton. 

I  should  with  pleasure  have  laid  before  you  the 
several  facts  in  the  words  of  the  celebrated  historian 
of  the  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Rotnan  Empire ;" 
but  it  would  have  extended  beyond  due  bounds 
this  Lecture.  Recollecting  too,  that  there  is  no 
need  of  dwelling  so  minutely  on  those  matters  which 
are  not  disputed,  I  have  been  anxious  to  pass  over 
this  PERIOD  of  the  prophecy  with  all  possible  speed. 


108  (Conclusion. 

I  trust,  brethren,  that  you  will  not  separate  until 
you  have  unanimously  resolved  to  treasure  up  the 
moral  furnished  by  the  history  which  we  have  been 
reviewing.  The  dispensations  of  Providence  extend 
to  all  things;  and  they  all  have  respect  to  the  church  of 
Christ.  God  our  Saviour  reigns.  He  is  gone  forth 
conquering  and  to  conquer.  And  when  the  mystery 
of  providence  is  finished,  the  final  judgment  shall  be 
held.  Then  the  wicked  shall  suffer  in  proportion  to 
their  guilt,  and  you  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
shall  be  admitted  to  happiness  without  end.    Ajnien, 


THE  APOCALYPTICAL  TRUMPETS. 


LECTURE  V. 

Rev.  \in....And  when  he  had  opened  the  seventh  scaly 
there  ivas  silence  in  heaven  about  the  space  of  half  an 
hour.  And  I  saw  the  seven  angels  which  stood  be- 
fore God;  and  to  them  were  given  seven  trumpets^ 
Ssc.  St'c. 

JxEVEALED  religion  affords  the  most  clear  and 
extensive  views  of  man's  origin  and  connexions,  as 
well  as  the  only  satisfactory  discoveries  relating  to 
God,  providence,  and  a  future  state.  AVhile,  from 
the  simple  exhibition  of  Christ  crucified,  is  derived 
the  peculiar  efficacy  of  gospel  preaching,  in  promo- 
ting a  life  of  holiness,  the  faithful  developement  of 
the  mysteries  of  Divine  Providence  yields  powerful 
reinforcements.  In  these,  the  vast  and  comprehen- 
sive scheme  of  government,  administered  over  man- 
kind, is  unfolded  in  its  principal  periods  to  its  last  re- 
sult. The  discussion  of  topics,  selected  from  the  his- 
tory of  God's  providence  as  it  respects  human  affairs, 
would  unquestionably,  if  fitly  managed,  tend  to  fix 
our  attention  upon  the  several  acts  of  Christ's  admi- 
nistration; to  awakeo  and  exalt  our  reason;  to  inter- 


110  THE    PERIOD    OP    THE   TRUMPETS. 

est  and  to  improve  our  conscience ;  and  thus,  both  en- 
force obedience  to  the  law  of  the  Lord,  and  promote 
our  own  holiness,  usefulness,  and  happiness.  The 
dispensations  of  Divine  Providence,  like  the  Apoca- 
lyptic Angels  in  this  chapter,  sound  their  trumpets 
in  every  period  for  the  benefit  of  "  the  men  of  under- 
standing." 

These  Trumpets  give  a  brief  prospective  history 
of  the 

SECOND  PERIOD. 

You  have  already  been  informed,  that  the  first 
period  extended  from  the  apostolical  age  to  the  over- 
throw of  Paganism,  in  that  signal  revolution  which  es- 
tablished Constantine  the  Greatupon  the  throne  of  the 
empire.  This  is  "  the  period  of  the  seals:"  It  has 
respect  to  the  Heathen  Roman  empire,  opposing  the 
growing  influence  of  Christianity,  as  the  system  to 
which  the  symbols  appertained.  Each  seal  contains 
a  distinct  chronological  prediction.  The  events,  of 
one,  terminated  before  the  commencement  of  those 
which  are  pointed  out  in  the  other,  unless  in  the  text 
itself,  intimation  is  given  that  the  events  exhibited  in 
vision,  are  only  in  j^rogress.  The  sixth  seal  completed 
that  period ;  and  at  its  close  the  seventh  seal  com- 
mences. Seeing,  therefore,  that  this  seal  does  little 
more  than  announce  the  trumpets,  the  second  period  is 
called  the  period  of  the  trumpets.  In  this  lecture,  I 
propose,  To  explain  the  preface  to  the  trumpets — 
Give  the  rules  of  interpretation — and  show  the  in^ 
terpretation  of  the  first  four  trumpets. 


PREFACE.  IJl . 

I.  Introduction  to  the  period  of  the  trumpets. 

This  part  of  the  ])rophetical  history  is  prefaced  with 
great  solemnity.  Silence  reigns,  and  tlic  whole  as- 
sembly gives  a  reverential  attention  to  what  is  laid  be- 
f(^re  them.  The  High  Priest  of  our  profession  offers 
unto  God  the  prayers  of  his  people,  before  he  gives 
commission  to  the  destroying  angel  to  enter  upon 
his  work.  He  casts  upon  the  earth  the  burning  coals 
of  the  altar  astlie  signal  of  his  wrath.  1'hen  the  an- 
gels prepare  to  execute  his  judgments.  Verses  1 — 6. 

And  when  he  had  opened  the  seventh  seed,  there  was  si- 
lence in  heaven  about  the  space  of  half  an  hour.]  While 
the  priest,  according  to  the  Mosaic  ritual,  oifered  in- 
cense in  the  holy  place  of  the  temple  in  Jerusalem, 
the  people  w  ithout,  in  profound  silence,  offered  their 
prayers.*  In  allusion  to  this  fact,  it  is  said,  "  there 
was  silence  in  heaven,"  at  the  opening  of  the  seventh 
seal. 

This  siLEXCE  remained  but  for  a  very  short  time — 
about  the  space  of  half  an  hour.  It  indicated  neverthe- 
less, the  awful  curiosity  which  christians  in  that  very 
trying  time,  indulged  with  respect  to  the  future  con- 
cerns of  the  Roman  empire.  After  the  establishment 
of  the  christian  religion,  they  enjoyed  a  respite  from 
persecution — For  a  short  time  they  worshipped  their 
God  in  trancjuillity.  The  rest  which  they  enjoyed 
from  their  tribulations,  in  consecjuence  of  the  revolu- 
tion described  under  the  sixth  seal,  still  continues  at 
the  opening  of  the  seventh ;  but  it  does  not  continue 
long.     It  is  a  time  of  silent  solicitude  for  what  is  ta 

'  Luke  i   10. 


112  THE   PERIOD    OP    THE    TRUMPETS. 

come  to  pass.  The  seven  angels  stand  before  theii* 
God,  and  receive  from  him  the  Trumpets,  which  shall 
speedily  put  an  end  to  the  silence  which  now  reigns. 
In  the  mean  time  the  service  of  God  proceeds  among 
his  faithful  people,  and  the  Great  High  Priest  inter- 
cedes for  them  in  heaven. 

And  another  angel  came  and  stood  at  the  altar,  having 
a  golden  censer,  and  there  was  given  unto  him  much  in- 
cense, that  he  should  offer  it  with  the  prayers  of  all 
saints,  upon  the  golden  altar  which  was  before  the 
throne.^  Jesus  Christ  himself  is  the  Angel  at  the  gold- 
en altar.  He  was  typified  by  the  priests  of  the  law 
who  worshipped  in  the  temple.  He  alone  adds  in- 
cense to  the  prayers  of  the  saints.  He  is  the  chan- 
nel through  Avhich  we  approach  Jehovah.  And  whe- 
ther we  interpret  the  allusion  as  to  the  day  of  expia- 
tion* or  to  the  daily  service,  as  to  the  high  priest,  or 
some  other  of  the  sacerdotal  order,  the  Mediatorial 
angel,  the  High  Priest  of  our  profession,  is  here  re- 
vealed as  our  Advocate  with  the  Father.  The 
whole  house  of  Aaron  was  typical  of  our  Redeem- 
er. Through  him  we  have  access  by  one  Spirit  unto 
the  Father.  And  the  smoke  of  the  incense  with  the 
prayers  of  the  saints  ascended  up  before  God  out  of 
the  angel's  hand. 

*  "  On  the  day  of  expiation  the  whole  service  was  performed  by 
the  high  priest.  The  custom  was  on  other  days  to  take  fire  from 
the  great  altar  in  a  silver  censer;  but  on  this  day  for  the  high  priest 
to  take  fire  from  the  great  altar  in  a  golden  censer;  and  when  he 
was  come  down  from  the  great  altar,  he  takes  incense  from  one  of 
the  priests  who  brought  it  to  him,  and  went  with  it  to  the  goldeu 
altar,  and  while  he  ofifered  the  incense,  the  people  prayed  without 
in  silence."    Sir  Isaac  Newton  in  loco. 


PREFACE   TO   THE   TRUMPETS.  113 

The  Priest  of  llie  covenant  of  grace  appears  in 
various  characters  in  order  to  accomplish  the  salva- 
tion of  Israel.  He  is  a  King  and  a  Priest  upon  his 
throne.  He  rules  over  his  enemies,  lie  presents 
to  his  Father  the  prayers  of  all  saints,  and  by  terri- 
ble things  in  righteousness,  he  frequently  gives  an 
answer  to  these  prayers. 

And  the  angel  took  the  censer  and  fdlcd  it  with  fire 
of  the  altar,  and  cast  it  into  the  earthy  and  there  were 
voices,  and  fhunderingSy  and  lightnings,  and  an  earth- 
quake. And  the  seven  angels  which  had  the  seven 
trumpets,  prepared  themselves  to  sound.']  This  puts  an 
end  to  the  tranquillity  of  the  "half  hour."  Com- 
motion, and  battles,  and  political  changes,  now  su- 
persede suspense,  and  attract  attention.  The  altar, 
upon  which  was  ofTered  acceptable  sacrifice,  fur- 
nishes coals  of  fire  for  the  destruction  of  impenitent 
men.  The  censer,  which  conveyed  the  incense  to 
the  sanctuary,  is  the  instrument  of  torture  to  the 
guilty.  The  angel  of  mercy,  who  had  just  offered 
the  prayers  of  the  saints,  turns  around  him  to  bring 
judgments  upon  the  nations.  Religion  has  frequent- 
ly been  the  occasion  of  contention;  and  indepen- 
dently of  the  disputes  to  which  it  may  from  time  to 
time  have  given  rise,  by  the  decree  of  a  righteous 
God,  judgment  without  mercy  overhangs  every 
country  or  people  to  whom  the  christian  religion  has 
been  sent  in  vain.  Its  language  to  individuals  and 
to'communities  is,  "  Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angry, 
and  ye  perish  from  the  way,  when  his  wrath  is  kin- 
dled but  a  little." 

P 


114  THE   PERIOD   OF   THE   ITIUMPE-TS. 

The  applicability  of  these  remarks  to  the  time  of 
which  the  text  speaks  is  evident  from  history. 

The  repose  of  the  church  after  the  accession  of 
Constantine  and  the  establishment  of  Christianity 
was  of  very  short  duration.  The  state  of  religion 
itself,  being  greatly  corrupted,  contributed  to  the 
disorders  of  society.  In  an  ignorant,  licentious,  and 
tumultuous  age,  it  might  have  been  expected  that  a 
religion  which,  from  whatever  cause,  spread  with 
great  rapidity,  would  be  embraced  in  its  visible 
forms  and  mere  name  by  multitudes  who  had  no  in- 
ward conviction  of  its  power ;  and,  that  being  thug 
professed,  it  would  suffer  degradation  by  the  pol- 
luted touch  of  unprincipled  men. 

However  insidious  and  impious  the  efforts  of  the 
celebrated  historian  of  the  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire"  may  have  been,  in  treating  as  he  has 
done  of  the  causes  w^hich  he  assigns  for  the  progress- 
of  Christianity;  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  these 
causes,  and  even  others  which  he  has  not  mentioned, 
and  which  are  equally  unworthy  of  true  godliness, 
contributed  to  spread  nominal  christianily  among  the 
nations.  While  actual  religion  was  progressing  by  a 
divine  influence,  such  causes  co-operated  in  the  esta- 
blishment of  corrupt  systems,  bearing  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  having  some  resemblance  to  the 
gospel  of  God.  The  absolute  power  which  Con- 
stantine himself  assumed  over  the  church,  in  model- 
ling its  government  after  the  manner  of  the  civil 
empire,  together  with  the  prevalence  of  superstition 
and  heresies,  soon  produced  a  state  of  things  greatly 
injur ioug  to  the   interests  of  primitive  truth   and 


PREFACE   TO    THE   TRUMPETS.  115 

order.  "  The  Arian  heresy  itself  introduced  a  suc- 
cession of  crimes  disgraceful  alike  to  humanity  and 
religion." 

At  tlie  opening  of  the  seventh  seal,  and  before 
the  sounding  of  the  trumpets,  we  are  accordingly 
pi-esented  with  a  suitable  emblem  of  the  situation  of 
affairs  in  the  moral  world. 

A  silence,  expressive  both  of  present  tranquillity 
and  awful  solicitude  about  the  prospect  before  them, 
prevailed  among  the  christians.  The  worship  which 
true  believers  offered  unto  God,  was  accepted 
through  the  merits  of  the  Lord  .Tesus  Christ.  The 
abuse,  and  the  rejection  of  revealed  religion,  called 
for  the  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgments  of 
God ;  and  burning  coals  from  the  altar  are  conse- 
quently cast  down  upon  the  earth  by  the  Head  of 
the  church.  Voices,  and  thunderingSy  and  ligfUnings, 
and  an  earthquake — Contentions,  and  wars,  and  even 
a  revolution  in  the  religion  of  the  empire,  interrupt 
the  silence  some  tune  previously  to  the  sounding  of 
the  trumpets. 

Bishop  Newton  extends  too  far  the  repose  of  the 
church,  symbolized  by  tlie  half  hour's  silmce  in  heaven. 
Mede,  Lowman,  and  Johnston,  have  neglected  to  re* 
mark  that  the  thunder  and  the  earthquake  preceded 
the  blowing  of  the  first  trumpet.  The  bishop  is 
perfectly  correct  in  representing  the  sounding  of  the 
first  trmnpet,  as  posterior  to  the  reign  of  the  empe- 
ror Theodosius  the  Great;  and  the  other  Commenta- 
tors referred  to  are  equally  correct,  in  limiting  the 
silence  or  tranquillity  of  the  church  to  a  much  shorter 
period  Uian  from  the  time  of  Constantine  to  the 


116  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

death  of  Theodosius.  In  this  period,  the  Arian  he- 
resy produced  contentions  and  tumults  that  extend- 
ed from  the  cottage  to  the  throne  of  *,he  empire ; 
the  Goths  disturbed  by  frequent  incursions  the  ge- 
neral repose ;  and  the  apostacy  of  Julian,*  although 
his  reign  was  but  of  short  duration,  was  as  the  shock 

*  Julian  "  the  Apostate"  was  the  son  of  Julius  Constantius,  and 
the  nephew  of  Constantine  the  Great.  He  was  a  man  of  talents, 
learned,  politic,  and  ambitious.  War  in  those  days,  was  the  chief 
employment  of  man ;  and  it  Avas  in  the  field  of  battle,  and  at  the 
head  of  his  armies,  that  Julian  distinguished  himself  as  the  formi- 
dable rival  of  Constantius,  the  last  of  the  sons  of  Constantine,  with 
whom  he  disputed  the  empire  of  the  world.  He  succeeded.  Con- 
stantius died,  and  Julian,  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  his  age, 
A.  D.  361,  became  sole  emperor. 

His  attachment  to  the  Platonic  philosophy  is  supposed  to  have 
influenced  him  to  renounce  the  christian  religion ;  and  his  well- 
known  fondness  for  the  study  of  magic,  so  unbecoming  a  man  of 
genius  and  education,  will  in  part  account  for  his  indisposition  to 
the  gosj)el.  Reasons  of  state,  however,  furnish  to  such  ?  man  as 
Julian  the  most  powerful  motives  of  action,  and  must  determine 
whether  any,  or  what  religion,  shall  be  embraced.  He  was  a  crafty 
and  ambitious  warrior  and  statesman.  The  family  of  his  uncle 
were  of  the  christian  religion,  and  calculated  upon  the  support  of 
the  church  which  they  had  enriched  and  protected.  Julian,  at  en- 
mity with  that  family,  and  desirous  to  rise  upon  their  ruin,  put  him- 
self at  the  head  of  the  Pagan  interest,  offering  toleration  to  all  sects 
of  Christians.  No  sooner  Avas  he  confirmed  in  the  supreme  poAver 
than  he  formed  the  design  of  extirpating  Christianity. 

He  patronized  the  Jcavs,  and  in  hopes  of  convicting  the  New 
Testament  of  falsehood,  employed  his  Avealth  in  vain  attempts  to 
rebuild  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple.  He  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
have  completed  a  revolution  in  the  religion  of  the  empire,  on  ac- 
count of  the  shortness  of  his  reign,  and  the  caution  Avith  Avhich  he 
Avas  constrained  to  act.  Julian  reigned  only  two  years.  At  his 
death  the  religion  of  the  empire  Avas  restored. 


PREFACE    TO    THE    TRUMPETh.  117 

of  an  earthquake  to  the  ieli«;ious  eslablishinenl  of 
the  empire.  Such  a  period  cannot  be  represented 
as  a  season  of  tranquillity. 

Mr.  Faber  has  given  the  most  correct  view  of  this 
part  of  the  prophecy.  "The  year  313  was  marked 
by  the  famous  edict  of  Constantine  in  favour  of 
Christianity:  in  this  year  therefore,  the  tranquillity 
of  the  church  commenced.  No  great  length  of 
time,  however,  ehipsed  before  the  peace  of  the  em- 
pire began  to  be  broken  by  the  incursions  of  the 
northern  barbarians  about  the  year  323.  At  this 
period  I  conceive  the  seventh  seal  to  have  been 
opened,  and  the  silence  of  half  an  hour,  or  rather  of 
half  a  season,  to  have  commenced.  The  silence 
seems  to  denote  the  state  of  mute  and  anxious  ex- 
pectation i'l  which  the  church  anticipated  the  grand 
irruption  of  the  Gothic  monarch  Alaric  and  his  asso- 
ciates. The  period  then  of  the  half  season  descrihes 
the  affairs  of  the  church  and  the  empire  from  about  the 
year  323  to  the  year  395.  Upon  referring  to  history 
we  find,  that  the  incursions  of  the  northern  barbari- 
ans gradually  became  more  and  more  formidable. 
Between  the  years  365  and  379,  an  almost  perpetual 
war  was  carried  on  between  them  and  the  Romans, 
with  various  success :  and  in  the  last  of  these  years, 
when  the  empire  seemed  on  the  point  of  being  com- 
pletely overrun  and  dismembered,  Gratian  associated 
with  himself  in  the  imperial  dignity  the  famous 
Theodosius.  By  the  successful  valour  of  this  war- 
like prince,  the  sounding  of  the  first  trumpet,  and 
the  impending  ruin  of  the  empire,  were  delayed  for 
sixteen  years:   but  Uhe  genius  of   Rome  expired 


118  THE   PERIOD    OF   THE   TRUMPETS. 

*  with  Theodosius,  the  last  of  the  successors  of  Au- 
*gustus  and  Constantine,  who  appeared  in  the  field  at 

*  the  head  of  their  armies,  and  whose  authority  was 

*  universally  acknowledged  throughout  the  whole  ex- 
*tent  of  the  empire.'  ''* 

Having  occupied,  brethren,  so  much  of  your  time 
in  explaining  the  introduction  to  the  sounding  of  the 
tinimpets,  it  is  proper  that  I  should,  without  further 
delay,  proceed  to  specify  the 

II.  Rules  to  he  observed  in  ascertaining  the  period, 
and  in  giving  the  interpretation  of  the  Ajpocalyptical 
Trumpets. 

You  will  already  have  observed,  what  we  have 
taken  for  gi-anted  in  the  preceding  remarks,  that  the 
trumpets  have  respect  to  the  affairs  of  the  Roman 
empire  under  what  is  called  its  christian  form.  I  in- 
tend, under  this  head,  to  show  that  this  is  not  a  mere 
gratuitous  hypothesis.  Every  prophecy  furnishes  its 
own  key — A  key  adapted  with  so  m>ich  wisdom  to 
the  several  wards  of  the  lock,  as  that  it  alone,  with- 
out offering  violence  to  any  part  of  the  sacred  me- 
chanism, sets  open  the  door  to  him  who  seeks  ad- 
mission into  the  sacred  edifice.  The  preservation  of 
consistency,  in  both  the  symbols  and  the  chronology 
of  scripture  prediction,  is  essentially  necessary. 

1.  The  seventh  seal,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  is  the 
last  on  the  sacred  book.  When  it  is  broken,  the 
whole  book  is  of  course  laid  open.    And  it  is  alto- 

*  GibboE» 


RULES   OF   IJfTERPRETATION.  119 

-gether  incongruous  with  the  prophetical  symbols  to 
imagine,  with  JMr.  Woodhouse  and  others,  that  this 
seal  returns  to  the  period  of  the  tirst  seal,  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  a  re-exhibition  of  tlie  same  chro- 
nological epoch.  The  seventh  must  be  supposed  to 
commence  where  the  sixth  terminated,  and  to  con- 
tinue the  same  theme  of  discussion  until  the  angels 
are  commanded  to  sound  their  trumpets.  Upon  this 
principl<^  we  have  proceeded  in  explaining  thff  first 
verses  of  this  chapter,  and  we  shall  now  justify  the 
application  of  tlie  Apocalyptical  trumpets  to  the 
history  of  the  great  events  which  took  place  in  the 
moral  world,  in  connexion  with  the  fate  of  the  fourth 
universal  emphe,  after  the  time  of  Constantine  and 
Theodosius. 

The  last  of  the  seven  trumpets  is  sounded  be- 
fore the  conmiencement  of  the  Millennium.  Rev. 
xi.  15.  "  And  the  seventh  angel  sounded,  and  there 
were  great  voices  in  heaven,  saying.  The  kingdoms 
of  this  world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord 
and  of  his  Christ."  If  the  seventh  trumpet  precedes 
that  illustrious  period  of  time,  so  must  all  the  trum- 
pets ;  and  we  have  shown  that  the  seventh  seal,  which 
includes  them  all,  succeeded  the  era  of  Constantine, 
The  period  of  the  trumpets  must  therefore  be  found 
somewhere  between  the  time  of  the  overthrow  of 
Pagan  Rome,  and  the  overthrow  of  antichristiau 
power,  before  the  reign  of  the  saints  commences. 

The  additional  argument,  in  support  of  applying 
the  trumpets  to  tliis  period,  is  derived  from  the  in- 
terpretation of  the  prophecy ;  and,  I  must  of  course, 
leave  that  interpretatioa  in  due  time  to  speak  for  it- 
self. 


120  THE   PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

2.  It  is  of  great,  importance,  before  Ave  attempt  to 
explain  the  figurative  language  of  this  prophecy,  in 
order  to  designate  the  particular  historical  events  in 
which  it  has  receiv^ed  its  accomplishment,  that  we  dis- 
tinctly understand  the  object  in  view — the  definite 
system  of  events  of  which  the  predictions  treat. 

Although  it  is  generally  admitted  by  respectable 
conmientators  that  the  christian  Roman  world  is  the 
scene' oi  this  prophecy;  there  is  a  diversity  of  opinion 
as  to  the  special  object.  Mr.  Mede,  who  is  followed 
by  the  greater  part  of  modern  expositors,  assigns  this 
reason  for  making  the  Roman  empire  the  theatre 
upon  which  the  predictions  are  accomplished.  "As 
Daniel  in  the  Old  Testament  both  presignified  the 
coming  of  Christ,  and  arranged  the  fortunes  of  the 
Jewish  church  by  the  succession  of  the  empires ;  so 
the  Apocalypse  is  to  be  supposed  to  measure  the 
christian  history  by  the  means  of  the  Roman  empire, 
which  was  yet  to  be  remaining  after  Christ."  The 
interpretations  of  this  eminent  expositor  proceed  up- 
on the  principle  that  the  empire  is  in  fact  the  special 
object.  On  this  account  he  has  been  censured  by 
Mr.  Woodhouse,  as  guilty  of  neglecting  a  more  no- 
ble object,  "  the  fates  and  fortune  of  the  christian 
church,"  and  as  inconsistent  with  himself,  inasmuch 
as  he  had  not  maintained  the  homogeneity  of  the 
trumpets.  Mr.  AVoodhouse,  himself,  adopts  the  prin- 
ciple upon  which  Mr.  Durham  and  Dr.  Johnston  pro- 
ceed, that  the  christian  churchy  not  the  empire  of  Rome^ 
is  the  special  object :  but,  in  his  exposition,  he  differs 
widely  from  both  these  divines ;  and  follows,  in  the 
general  outline,  if  not  entirely  in  the  minute  de- 
tails, the  explanations  given  by  Lord  Napier.     It  was 


KULES   OF   INTERPRETATION.  121 

not,  however,  doing  justice  to  Mr.  Joseph  Mede,  to 
represent  him  as  inconsistent  with  himself,  either  as 
it  respected  the  fifth  or  the  n^venth  ti  uinpet.*  It  was 
no  part  of  his  scheme  to  exclude  ecclesiastical  con- 
siderations from  the  prophetic  page.  A  little  reflec- 
tion too  might  have  convinced  Mr.  Woodhuuse  him- 
self, that  under  the  seventh  trumpet  the  christian  re- 
ligion does  in  fact  triumph  over  the  immoral  systems 
which  obtained  throughout  the  Roman  empire, 
partly  by  the  infliction  of  merited  judgments  upon 
that  bcasthf  power.  The  followers  of  Mr.  Mede  re- 
quire no  further  vindication. 

I  do  not,  however,  admit,  that  either  the  church  or 
the  state  exclusively,  is  the  system  which  the  Apoca- 

•  '  "  If  the  trumpets  are  to  be  all  honiogeneal,  let  us  have  recourse 
to  one  of  theui,  whose  character  and  interpretation  are  placed  be- 
yond dispute. 

The  Seventh  Trumpet.  "  What  does  it  announce  ?  Most  clearly 
the  victory  obtained  by  Christ  and  his  Church,  not  over  the  Roman 
Empire,  but  over  the  powers  of  hell.  They  (the  six  Trumiiets,) 
must  therefore  be  supposed  to  contain  the  ivarfare  of  the  Christian 
Church:'     IVoodhome,  p.  222.  Loti.  1 805. 

Such  is  the  argument  of  this  very  learned  writer.  But  surely  he 
had  forgotten  that  the  seventh  Trumpet  itself  records  the  downfall 
of  the  kingdoi7is  of  this  world.  It  was  a  triumph  over  the  Roman 
Empire  under  its  antichristian  form.  This  is  the  fourth  beast  of 
Daniel — The  fourth  kingdoin  on  earth,  in  its  divided  form;  or  in 
other  words,  the  beast  with  seven  heads  and  ten  horns:  the  king- 
doms, in  short,  of  the  old  Roman  Empire,  nowflisfinet,  but  united 
by  a  bond  of  blasphemy  and  iniquity,  a  corrupted  religion  made  an 
essential  part  of  tyrannical  policy. 

,  Christianity  cannot  triumph  until  political  religion  be  overthrown : 
and  this  kind  of  religion,  by  whatever  name  it  may  be  called,  is  as 
much  a  part  of  the  politics  or  constitution  of  the  nations,  as  the 
monarchy  or  jiidiciarr. 

a 


122  THE    PERIOD   OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

lyptical  trumpets  make  the  formal  subject  of  the 
prospective  history.  To  the  church,  indeed,  and  for 
the  sake  of  the  true  church,  these  prophecies  were 
delivered.  They  have  respect  to  that  which,  in  the 
progress  of  human  society,  is  most  interesting  to  the 
moral  world ;  and  consequentl}^  to  the  great  social 
concerns  of  true  religion.  Jn  this  point  of  view  the 
history  of  the  Roman  empire  is  of  equal  interest 
with  the  history  of  the  Roman  church :  but  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  is  otherwise  taken  notice  of  in 
scripture  than  as  they  affect  the  interests  of  truth,  of 
piety,  and  social  order.  The  Divine  Being  foresaw 
that  during  the  period  under  review,  there  would  not 
be,  in  fact,  many  saints  upon  earth  w  ho  would  not  be 
more  or  less  affected  by  the  moral  changes  which 
took  place  within  the  bounds  of  the  Roman  empire ; 
and  as  external  Christianity,  or  if  you  will,  the  great 
body  of  the  christian  church,  had  been  in  one  com- 
plex system  identified  with  the  state,  there  is  great 
propriety  in  making  the  empire  itself  the  special 
subject  of  the  predictions.*     The  rule  of  interpre- 

*  We  can  readily  conceive  oF  Church  and  State  as  distinct  objects 
of  thought:  and  we  even  feel  that  Ihey  are  of  right  distinct.  The 
Church  of  Godh,  certainly,  something  quite  different  from  the  king- 
doms of  men.  They  never  can  become  identified.  True,  there  is 
a  period  approaching,  in  which  "  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house 
shall  be  established  upon  the  tops  of  the  mountains"  of  national 
poAver : — The  true  church  shall  influence,  thoroughly  influence  the 
political  conduct  of  men.  Even  then,  however,  Church  and  State 
shall  be  two  different  things.  The  distinction  shall  be  marked  and 
understood.  Hitherto  it  has  been  almost  universally  otherwise. 
In  the  Roman  Empire,  at  the  era  of  Constantine,  nominal  Christianity 
and  politics  were  identified.  The  actual  Church  of  God  was  always 
a  dia'ereiit  thing  from  the  mere  political  body  ;  but  that  which  was 
called  the  Church,  became  a  constituent  part  of  the  Empire.     It  is 


RULES   OP   INTERPRETATION.    0,  123 

lalion,  which  we  deduce  from  these  reasonings,  is 
tJiat  the  symbolical  language  of  this  period  is  to  be 
applied,  not  ecclesiastically,  but  in  the  civil  sense, 
unless  the  text  itself  makes  upon  particular  grounds 
such  application  necessary.  The  earth,  the  sea,  the 
rivcrSy  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars,  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  political,  not  religious  symbols. 

3.  It  will  aid  us  much  in  giving  a  consistent,  as 
well  as  the  true  interpretation,  to  affix  correct  ideas 
to  the  symbol  which  gives  its  designation  to  this  pe- 
riod. ♦ 

The  trumpet  is  a  well-known  instrument,  construct- 
ed upon  principles  analogous  to  the  organ  of  hearing, 
the  ear.  The  effect  of  employing  this  instrument  is 
to  increase  the  sound  of  the  human  voice,  and  render 
it  more  audible  at  a  distance.  The  object  is,  rapidly 
to  communicate  information,  or  to  give  notice  of  any 
design  or  event  which  requires  to  be  speedily  known. 
Trumpets  were,  by  divine  appointment,  used  for  va- 
rious purposes  among  the  Hebrews ;  and  from  that 
usage  it  is  reasonable  to  infer  the  symbol  in  the 
Apocalypse  is  drawn.  The  Lord  commanded  Mo- 
ses to  construct  two  silver  trumpets  for  the  purpose 
of  assembling  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness  when 
they  were  to  decamp.  Numb.  x.  The  priests  also 
employed  these  instruments  in  announcing  the  peri- 

in  this  light  the  prophecy  contemiilates  the  subject ;  and  for  the 
very  best  reason  too,  because  it  is  the  only  true  light.  Nor  is  it 
possible  really  to  understand  or  to  interpret  correctly  these  predic- 
tions without  keeping  this  fact  in  view.  The  Roman  Church  wag 
as  much  a  part  of  the  Roman  Empire  as  was  the  Roman  Senate. 
The  nation  was  not  sanctified;  but  the  Sanctuary  was  profaned. 
The  establiahed  church  was  a  mere  worldly  sanctuary. 


124  THE   PERIOD   OF    THE   TRUMPETS. 

odical  returns  of  the  civil  year,  the  sabbatical  year, 
and  the  year  of  jubilee.  A  feast  was  celebrated  at 
the  commencement  of  the  civil  year,  (the  Septem- 
ber new-moon)  which  from  this  custom  was  called 
the  feast  of  trumpets,  Lev.  xxiii.  Numb.  sxix.  In- 
deed the  first  day  of  every  month,  and  all  their  re- 
ligious festivals,  were  announced  by  the  sound  of  these 
instruments.  By  the  trumpet  also,  the  people  were 
called  forth  to  war.  To  sound  a  trumpet  was  a  fa- 
miliar phrase  for  calling  forth  to  battle.  This  was 
perfectly  understood  by  the  writers  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. "  If  the  trumpet  give  an  uncertain  sound, 
who  shall  prepare  himseJf  to  the  battle?"*  On 
such  occasions  the  trumpets  were  to  sound  an  alarm 
— the  signal  of  hostile  invasion.  "  Shall  the  trumpet 
be  blown  in  the  city  and  the  people  not  be  afraid  ?"t 
Of  this  description  are  the  seven  Apocalyptical  trum- 
pets. It  is  evident  from  their  contents  that  they  were 
not  designed  to  call  either  to  the  sacrifice  or  to  any 
festival.  They  are  theiefore  a  voice  of  warning,  to 
the  church  of  God,  of  the  judgments  and  trials  which 
are  to  come  upon  the  corrupt  empire  in  whose  con- 
cerns they  have  a  deep  interest.  This  idea  corres- 
ponds with  the  use  made  of  the  trumpets,  according 
to  the  style  of  the  former  prophets.  "Blow  the 
trumpet  in  Zion,  sound  an  alarm.''$ 

The  seals,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  followed 
one  another  in  chronological  order.  The  space  of 
the  roll,  unfolded  by  removing  one  seal,  was  fully 
exhibited  before  the  next  seal  was  broken  i  but  the 

*  1  Cor.  xiv.  8.     t  Joel  ii.  1. 
X  Amos  iii.  6.     See  also  Ezek.  xxxiii.  2 — 4, 


EXPLANATION.  125 

voice  of  warning  of  one  danger  may  very  properly 
be  heard  wlien  it  approaches,  although  the  cause,  of 
the  alarm  immediately  preceding,  may  not  in  every 
case  have  been  entirely  removed. 

Tlie  judgments  of  the  trumpets  are,  therefore,  to 
be  considered  only  so  far  announced  in  chronologi- 
cal order,  as  it  respects  their  commencement.  It  is 
not  necessary  that  the  whole  cause  of  the  first  alarm 
shall  have  terminated  before  another  alarm  is  given ; 
because  one  hostile  attack  may  speedily  follow 
another  without  waiting  for  the  result  of  the  contest. 
The  trumpets  follow  one  another  in  order  as  to  their 
beginning ;  but  as  to  the  termination  of  the  events 
predicted,  that  is  left  undetermined. 

And  the  seven  angels  which  had  the  seven  trumpets 
prepared  themselves  to  sound.    We  shall  now  proceed, 

III.  To  explain  the  Jirst  four  Trumpets. 

We  have  akeady  assigned  our  reasons  for  consider- 
ing the  Roman  empire,  in  its  present  complex  ecclesi- 
astical political  form,  the  proper  object  of  the  judg- 
ments announced  by  the  trumpets.  It  is  not  merely 
for  the  purpose  of  recording  deeds  of  blood  perpe- 
trated by  offending  man  against  his  fellow-mortals, 
that  these  events  are  esteemed  worthy  of  notice,  ei- 
ther in  the  scheme  of  prophecy  or  in  history.  It  is  on 
account  of  the  influence  which  such  political  commo- 
tions exercise  ov^^r  the  moral  concerns  of  accountable 
creatures ;  their  tendency  to  illustrate  the  manner  in 
which  .Jehovah  administers  his  moral  government;  and 
for  the  sake  of  their  ultimate  effect  in  preparing  the 
way  for  the  universal  diffusion  of  light,  life,  and  bap- 


126  THE   PERIOD   OP   THE   TRUMPETS. 

piness,  over  the  abodes  of  men,  that  they  are  esteem- 
ed worthy  of  the  place  which  is  assigned  to  ihem  in 
the  Apocalypse. 

In  comparing  the  fact  with  the  prediction,  I  avail 
myself  principally  of  the  great  historical  work  of 
the  celebrated  Gibbon.  This  man  is  well  known  to 
have  been  an  enemy  to  the  christian  religion.  He 
cannot  be  suspected,  therefore,  of  any  design,  in  the 
compilation  of  the  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall 
of  the  Homan  Empire,  to  furnish  evidence  of  the , 
fulfilment  of  sacred  prediction. 

The  preceding  prophecy  brought  the  history  of 
Rome  down  to  the  year  395,  when  Theodosius  the 
Great  departed  this  life.  "  The  public  safety,"  says 
Mr.  Gibbon,  "seemed  to  depend  on  the  life  and 
abilities  of  this  single  man."  In  another  place  he 
remarks,  that  "  the  correspondence  of  nations  was 
in  that  age  so  imperfect  and  precarious  that  the  re- 
volutions of  the  north  might  escape  the  knowledge 
of  the  court ;  until  the  dark  cloud  which  was  collect- 
ed along  the  coast  of  the  Baltic,  burst  in  thunder  up- 
on the  banks  of  the  upper  Danube."* 

Trumpet  I. — Verse  7.  Thejirst  angel  sounded,  and 
there  followed  hail  and  fire  mingled  with  blood,  and 
they  were  cast  upon  the  earth :  and  the  third  part  of 
trees  was  burnt  up,  and  all  green  grass  was  burnt  up. 

We  have  already  shown  that  earth  is  the  symbol 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  Upon  this  earth  the  tire 
was  cast  from  the  golden  censer,  verse  5.     Consi- 

*  Vol.  IV.  page  56.     Phil.  1804. 


THE   FIRST  TRUMPET.  127 

dered  as  a  whole,  the  Empiie,  like  the  system  of  na- 
ture, has  its  earth,  and  its  sea,  and  its  rivers,  &c.  &c. 

The  OBJECT  of  the  judgment  of  the  first  trumpet 
is  the  earth  of  the  system — the  collective  body  of 
the  population  of  the  empire. 

The  JUDGMEAT  itself  is,  hail  and  fire  mingled  with 
blood — Savage  warfare  bursting  from  a  distance  upon 
the  various  parts  of  the  empire  in  frequent  and  de- 
structive showers. 

The  CONSEQUENCE  is  a  great  consumption  of  the 
necessary  support,  and  the  ])rincipal  ornaments  of  the 
land.  The  vegetation, — the  third  part  of  the  trees 
and  green  grass  were  burnt  up.  The  western  Roman 
empire  was  considered  as  the  third  part  of  the  world, 
and  as  the  earth  in  this  instance  signifies  its  popula- 
tion, the  trees  and  the  grass  are  men  of  high  and  low 
degree.* 

By  comparing  this  trumpet  with  the  first  vial,  it 
will  appear  that  the  effects  of  this  judgment  lasted 
until  that  vial  is  poured  out  upon  the  earth.  We 
are  accordingly  requued  to  look  for  some  such  se- 
ries of  events,  as  while  it  tends  to  the  ruin  of  impe- 
rial Rome,  will  introduce  a  new  system  of  policy 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  which  is  to  charac- 
terize their  social  relations  until  the  time  of  the  first 


*  Sir  Isaac  Newton  remarks,  that  in  the  prophetic  language, 
*'  Tempests,  winds,  or  tlie  motion  of  the  clouds,  are  put  for  wars; 
thunder  for  the  voice  of  a  multitude;  storms,  lightning,  hail,  and 
rain,  for  a  tempest  of  war.  In  like  manner  the  earth,  animals,  and 
vegetables,  are  put  for  the  peojjle  of  several  nations  and  conditions. 
Trees  and  green  grass  express  the  beauly  and  fruitfulness  of  a  land; 
and  when  the  earth  is  an  emblem  of  nations  and  dominions,  may 
signify  persons  of  higher  rank,  and  of  common  condition." 


128,  THE   PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPET?. 

vial.  We  are  directed  to  expect  upon  the  death  of 
Theodosius,  a  terrible,  barbarous,  and  overwhelming 
warfare;  laying  the  land  waste  before  it;  and  esta- 
'blishing  upon  the  ruins  of  a  civilized  empire  a  spe- 
cies of  social  order  suited  only  to  a  savage  race, 
which  is  to  last  until  the  commencement  of  the  third 
prophetical  period.* 

History  immediately  points  to  the  causes  which 
demolished  the  superb  fabric  of  policy  constructed 
over  a  great  and  civilized  people,  and  introduced  in 
its  stead  the  feudal  system  adapted  to  a  barbarous 
and  military  race,  as  the  fuliilment  of  the  prediction 
of  the  first  trumpet.  These  causes  are  found  in  the 
irruption,  of  the  northern  hordes  of  military  barba- 
rians, into  the  civilized  provinces  of  the  empire,  over- 
turning in  their  course  all  the  monuments  of  Roman 
greatness,  and  destroying  alike  the  remaining  reli- 
gion, the  literature,  and  social  institutions  of  an  al- 
ready degenerate  people. 

In  confirmation  of  these  remarks  I  quote  Mr.  Pa- 
bcr,  who  makes  a  liberal  and  judicious  use  of  the  His- 
tory of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
"  Upon  the  decease  of  this  great  prince  (Theodosius) 
in  the  year  395,  the  northern  cloud,  which  had  so 
long  been  gathering,  discharged  itself  with  irresisti- 
ble fury  upon  the  empire.f"  "  He  died  in  the  month 
of  January,  and  before  the  end  of  the  same  year 
the  Gothic  nation  was  in  arms — The  barriers  of  the 
Danube  were  throAvn  open,  the  savage  warriors  of 
Scythia  issued  from  their  forests;  and  the  uncommon 

*  This  idea  will  be  more  fully  explained  under  the  first  vial, 
t  Vol,  II.  page  9, 


TIRST   TRUMPET.  12$ 

leverily  of  the  winter  allowed  the  poet  to  remark, 
that  they  rolled  Ihek  ponderous  waggons  oVer  the 
broad  and  icy  back  of  the  indignant  river.  The  fer-' 
tile  fields  of  Phocis  and  Beotia  were  covered  by  a 
deluge  of  barbarians ;  wlio  massacred  the  males  of  an 
age  to  bear  arms,  and  drove  away  tlic  beautiful  fe- 
males with  the  spoil  and  cattle  of  the  flaming  vil- 
lages."=^ 

"  Such  were  the  first  effects  of  the  symbolical  hail- 
storm. It  was  next  carried  into  Italy  and  the  west ; 
under  the  guidance  of  Alaric  it  passed  over  Pano- 
nia,  Istria,  and  Venetia,  and  threatened  the  destruc- 
tion of  imperial  Rome  herself.  Another  dark  cloud, 
generated  like  its  fellow  in  the  cold  regions  of  the 
north,  burst  in  the  year  406,  upon  the  banks  of  the 
upper  Danube,  and  thence  passed  on  into  Italy. 
Headed  by  Radagaisus,  the  northern  Germans  emi- 
grated from  their  native  land,  besieged  Florence,  and 
threatened  Rome."t 

"  The  flourishing  city  of  Mentz  was  surprised  and 
destroyed ;  and  many  thousand  christians  were  in- 
humanly massacred  in  the  church.  The  consuming 
flames  of  war  spread  from  the  banks  of  the  Rhine 
over  the  greatest  part  of  the  seventeen  provinces  of 
Gaul.  That  rich  and  extensive  country,  as  far  as 
the  ocean,  the  Alps,  and  the  Pyrenees,  was  delivered 
to  the  barbarians,  who  drove  before  them,  in  a  pro- 
miscuous crowd,  the  bishop,  the  senator,  and  the 
virgin,  laden  with  the  spoils  of  their  houses  and  al- 
tars."t 

*^  riist.  Dec.  Vol.  IV.  p.  29—31.     f  Ful.or. 
t  Hist.  Dec.  Vol.  IV.  p.  6!},  64. 

R 


130  THE   PERIOD    OP   THE    TRUMPETS. 

The  ravages  committed  by  the  Huns  under  their 
king  Attila,  justly  denominated  "  the  scourge  of 
God,"  equalled,  if  they  did  not  exceed,  those  of 
which  Alaric  and  Radagaisus  were  the  principal  in- 
struments. Attila  having  united  under  himself  the 
Scythians  and  the  Germans,  invaded  in  the  year  441 
the  eastern  empire.  The  Huns  under  his  command 
destroyed  with  fire  and  sword  the  populous  cities  of 
the  east. 

"  The  whole  breadth  of  Europe,  as  it  extends 
above  five  hundred  miles  from  the  Euxine  to  the 
Adriatic,  was  at  once  invaded,  and  occupied,  and 
desolated  by  the  myriads  of  barbarians  whom  Attila 
led  into  the  field — the  armies  of  the  eastern  empire 
were  vanquished  in  three  successive  engagements — 
words  the  most  expressive  of  total  extirpation  and 
erasure  are  applied  to  the  calamities  which  they  in- 
flicted on  seventy  cities."*  In  the  year  450  Attila 
again  threatened  the  peace  of  the  empire.  Mankind 
aw^aited  this  decision  with  awful  suspense:  victorious 
in  the  east,  he  pursued  his  march  toward  Rome ;  and 
as  he  passed,  the  cities  of  Altinum,  Concordia,  and 
Padua,  w  ere  reduced  into  heaps  of  stones  and  ashes. 
He  boasted  that  the  grass  never  grew  on  the  spot 
where  his  horse  had  trod. 

Bishop  Newton  relates  upon  the  authority  of  Si^ 
gonius,  that  "  Attila,  w^hen  he  turned  his  arms  against 
the  emperor  Valentinian  the  Third,  entered  Gaul 
w  ith  seven  hundred  thousand  men ;  and  not  content 
with  taking  and  spoiling,  set  most  of  the  cities  on 

/■   Hist.  Dec.  Vol.  IV.  p.  242. 


SECOND   TRUMPET.  131 

fire — and  filled  all  places  between  the  Alps  and  Ap^ 
pennines  with  flight,  depopulation,  slaughter,  servi- 
tude, and  desperation,  lie  was  preparing  to  march  to 
Rome,  but  was  diverted  from  his  purpose  by  a  so- 
lemn embassy  from  the  emperor,  and  the  promise  of 
an  annual  tribute."     • 

►Such  were,  in  their  desolating  course,  those,  incur- 
sions of  the  northern  barbarous  nations  which  after- 
wards overthrew  the  empire. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  succeeding  great  judgment 
which  contributed  to  this  event  is  announced. 

Trumpet  II. — Verses  8,  9.  And  the  second  angel 
sounded,  and  as  it  were  a  great  mountain  burning  with 
fire  was  cast  into  the  sea :  and  the  third  part  of  the 
sea  became  blood;  and  the  third  part  of  the  creatures 
which  were  in  the  sea  died;  and  the  third  part  of  the 
skips  were  destroyed.'] 

The  OBJECT  of  the  judgment  announced  by  the 
sound  of  the  second  trumpet  is  the  sea  of  the  Ro- 
man world.  The  symbolical  signification  of  waters 
is  explained  in  Rev.  xvii.  15.  "The  waters  which 
thou  sawest,  are  people,  and  multitudes,  and  nations, 
and  tongues."  The  sea,  therefore,  as  a  great  collec- 
tion of  waters,  signifies  many  people  and  nations 
connected  in  one  body  politic,  in  a  dissolute  and 
commoved  condition.  Thus  it  is  distinguished  from 
the  solid  earth.  The  symbol  earth  is  the  population 
of  the  empire  in  a  compact  and  quiescent  state. 
The  sea,  the  same  body  in  a  loose  and  agitated 
i^tate.     Daniel  gives  this  as  the  description  of  the 


132       THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  TRUMPETS. 

condition  of  society  at  the  commencement  of  eacli 
of  the  great  universal  monarchies.  Chap.  vii.  2,  3. 
"  Behold,  the  four  winds  of  the  heaven  strove  upon 
the  great  sea.  And  four  great  beasts  came  up  from 
the  sea."'' 

The  JUDGMENT  itself  is,  in  this  case,  a  hunting 
motmtain.  A  mountain  is  the  symbol  of  great  and 
established  power.  Zech.  iv.  7.  "  Who  art  thou,  O 
great  mountain?"  The  Lord  says  to  the  king  of 
Babylon,  .Ter.  li.  25.  "  Behold,  I  am  against  thee,  O 
destroying  mountain — I  will  stretch  out  mine  hand 
upon  thee,  and  roll  thee  down  from  the  rocks,  and 
will  make  thee  a  burnt  mountain."  A  burning 
mountain,  therefore,  signifies  some  great  power  that 
falls  upon  the  Romans,  full  of  rage,  and  thus  to  con- 
sume, and  to  be  itself  consumed. 

The  consequences  of  this  judgment  are  described 
in  terms  analogous  to  the  principal  symbol.  The 
third  part  of  the  sea  became  blood — the  fish  perish- 
ed— the  ships  were  destroyed. 

In  language  resembling,  and  of  course  illustrating, 
these  expressions,  the  prophet  announces  the  destruc- 
tion of  Egyptian  power.  Ezek.  xxix.  3.  "  Behold,  I 
am  against  thee,  Pharaoh,  king  of  Egypt — I  will 
cause  the  fish  of  thy  river  to  stick  unto  thy  scales — 
I  will  leave  thee  thrown  on  the  wilderness,  thee,  and 
all  the  fish  of  thy  rivers."  This  figurative  language 
is  explained  by  plain  speech,  for  the  prophet  adds, 
verse  8.  "  Behold,  I  will  bring  a  sword  upon  thee, 
and  cut  ofi"  man  and  beast  out  of  thee." 

It  may  be  considered  superfluous  to  add,  that 
the  Rohiaii  shipping,  like  that  of  modern  nations. 


SECOND   TRUMPET.  133 

was  an  instrument,  and  therefore,  a  proper  emblem, 
of  their  riches  and  their  strength.         i 

By  the  second  trumpet  the  pious  were  warned  of 
the  approach  of  a  striking  calamity  tiiat  should  be 
felt  every  where  throughout  the  Roman  Empire,  at 
a  time  too  when  left  in  great  confusion  by  the  irrup- 
tions of  the  barbarous  nations  irom  the  north.  At 
some  period,  not  far  removed  from  the  times  of  Ala- 
ric  and  Attila,  they  were  to  expect  some  mighty 
potentate  should,  with  tlaming  zeal  and  fury,  fall  up- 
on the  already  distracted  empire,  and  massacre  its 
inhabitants  without  mercy ;  exhaust  the  sources  of 
its  wealth ;  and  while  humbling  its  poAver,  be  also 
himself  hastening  to  ruin. 

History  looks  back  upon  the  events  then  antici- 
pated, and  confirms  both  our  exposition,  and  our 
faith  in  the  sacred  prediction.  In  the  year  455,  two 
years  after  the  decith  of  Attila,  the  principal  angel 
of  the  cloud  of  hail  from  the  north,  Genseric,  set  sail 
from  the  burning  shores  of  Africa,  and  suddenly  ap- 
peared like  a  mountain  on  fire  hurled  from  its  base, 
and  cast  into  the  sea,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber. 
Several  years  before  this,  he  had  established  himself 
in  Africa  at  the  head  of  his  Vandals,  and  erected  a 
kingdom  which  promised  to  endure  for  ages.  The 
Vandals,  it  is  true,  had,  like  the  other  barbarians, 
come  originally  from  the  north ;  but  having  planted 
themselves  in  the  heated  sands  of  Africa,  it  was  from 
the  South,  the  proper  region  of  fire,  they  invaded 
Home.  Of  these  people  Mr.  Gibbon  speaks  in  the 
following  manner:  Having  crossed  the  straits  of 
Gibraltar,  "  on  a  sudden  the  seven  provinces  from 
Tangier  to  Tripoli  were  overwhelmed  by  the  inva- 


134  THE   PERIOD   OF   THE   TRUMPETS. 

sion  of  the  Vandals.  Careless  of  the  distinctions  of 
age,  or  sex,  or  rank,  they  employed  every  species  of 
indignity  and  torture,  to  force  from  the  captives  a 
discovery  of  their  hidden  wealth.  The  stern  policy 
of  Genseric  justified  his  frequent  examples  of  mili- 
tary execution :  he  was  not  always  the  master  of  his 
own  passions,  or  of  those  of  his  followers ;  and  the 
calamities  of  war  were  aggravated  by  the  licentious- 
ness of  the  Moors,  and  the  fanaticism  of  the  Do- 
natists."* 

Having  been  established,  by  a  treaty  with  the  em- 
peror Yalentinian,  over  all  the  provinces  of  Africa, 
Genseric  was  looked  upon  by  Eudoxia,  the  relict  of 
that  emperor,  for  defence  against  the  murderers  of 
her  husband. 

It  was  then  he  invaded  Rome  at  the  head  of  three 
hundred  thousand  warriors.  The  city  fell  an  easy 
prey  into  their  hands.  A  bigoted  Arian,  Genseric 
availed  himself  of  every  opportunity  to  harass  the 
orthodox  christian.  During  the  fourteen  days,  for 
which  the  imperial  city  was  given  up  to  be  plun- 
dered by  his  soldiers,  the  churches,  as  well  as  private 
houses  and  palaces,  were  stripped  of  every  thing 
valuable  which  they  contained.  He  returned  with 
immense  wealth  to  Africa  ;t  and  after  his  death  the 
kingdom  of  the  Vandals  ceases  for  years  to  make  a 
figure  in  history.  Justinian  reduced  Africa  again 
into  the  form  of  a  province. 

The  western  empire,  however,  did  not  long  survive 
the  effects  of  this  burning  mountain.     "  It  struggled 

*  Hist.  Dec.  Vol.  IV.  p.  220. 
t  Hist.  Dec.  Vol.  IV.  p.  310—315. 


THIRD   TRUMPET.  135 

hard,  and  gasped,  as  it  were,  for  breath,  through  eight 
short  and  turbulent  reigns,  for  the  space  of  twenty 
years,  and  at  length  expired  under  Augustulus."* 

Trumpet  III. — Verses  10,  11.  And  Ihe  third  an- 
gel sounded,  and  there  fell  a  great  star  from  heaven, 
burning  as  it  were  a  lamp,  and  it  fell  upon  the  third 
part  of  ihe  rivers,  and  upon  the  fountains  of  waters  ; 
and  the  name  of  the  star  is  called  Wormwood:  and  the 
third  part  of  the  tvaters  became  wormwood  ;  and  many 
men  died  of  the  waters,  because  they  were  made  bitter.] 

The  OBJECT  of  this  judgment,  as  well  as  of  the 
former,  is  the  symbolical  waters — the  people.  They 
are  not,  however,  considered  as  united  in  one  body 
politic,  so  much  as  in  their  separate  state  in  the  seve- 
ral provinces  and  departments  of  the  empire.  It  ie 
not  the  sea  ;  but  the  rivers  and  fountains. 

The  JUDGMENT  is  represented  as  a  great  star  fallen 
from  heaven.  The  heaven  of  the  Roman  system,  is 
the  whole  frame  of  its  government.  A  great  star  is 
a  distinguished  officer  of  the  government.  Its  burn- 
ing like  a  lamp  signifies  the  sufferings  which  such 
ruler  both  causes  and  undergoes,  in  his  fall  from 
power. 

The  CONSEQUENCES  are  bitterness  and  death.  The 
name  of  the  fallen  star  is  Wormwood,  to  betoken  the 
bitter  effects  of  the  judgment. 

This  representation  has  an  allusion  to  the  descrip- 
tion which  the  prophet  Isaiah  gives  of  the  downfal 

^  Bishop  Newton. 


1^6  THE   PERIOD   OF   THE   TRUMPETS. 

of  the  king  of  Babylon.  Chap.  xiv.  4—12.  "ThoU 
shall  take  up  this  proverb  against  the  king  of  Baby- 
lon, and  say, — the  Lord  hath  broken  the  staff  of  the 
wicked,  and  the  sceptre  of  the  rulers — how  art  thou 
fallen  from  heaven,  O  Lucifer,  {day-star y)  son  of  the 
morning!  how  art  thou  cut  down  to  the  ground, 
which  did  weaken  the  nations  !" 

It  is  with  great  propriety,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Mede 
explains  this  star  of  the  prince  of  Rome.  A  fallen 
star,  in  the  language  of  symbols,  signifies  either  the 
downfal  of  a  king,  or  the  apostacy  of  a  minister  :* 
but  the  prophecy  does  not  describe  the  state  of  the 
church ;  and  we  therefore  cannot  admit  the  applica- 
tion of  this  prediction  to  any  of  the  early  heretics,  or 
as  Dr.  Johnston  does,  to  the  bishop  of  Constantinople. 
It  is  somewhat  strange  that  so  judicious  an  expositor 
as  bishop  Newton  should  have  applied  the  fallen  star 
to  Genseric,  who  was  a  triumphant  conqueror.  The 
observations  of  Mr.  Faber  upon  this  subject  are 
more  appropriate.  "  The  last  emperor,  Momyllus, 
or  Augustulus,  was  ,deposed  by  Odoacer  king  of  the 
Heruli,  who  put  an  end  to  the  very  name  of  the  west- 
ern empire.  The  fall  of  this  star  was  productive 
of  much  bloodshed  among  the  rivers  and  fountains ^ 
the  Gothic  governments  of  the  west,  which  now  filled 

*  "  Stars,  in  prophetic  style,  are  figurative  representations  of 
many  things;  among  others,  they  signify  kings,  or  Ivingdoras,  emi- 
nent persons  of  great  authority  anil  power.  Thus,  in  the  prophe- 
cy of  Balaam,  Numb.  xxiv.  17.  There  shall  come  a  star  mit  of  Ja- 
cob, ami  a  sceptre  shall  rise  out  of  Israel.  The  power  of  the  goat 
over  other  powers,  is  represented  in  Dan.  viii.  10.  It  cast  down  some 
of  the  host,  and  of  the  stars.''''    Lowm.vn. 


FOURTH  TRUMPET.  137 

llie  place  formerly  occupied  by  tlie  Roman  empire." 
"  At  thai  unhappy  period,"  said  Mr.  Gibbon,  "  the 
Saxons  fiercely  strujroled  witji  ilic  natives  for  fhe 
possession  of  Britain  ;  Gaul  and  Spain  w  re  divided 
between  the  powerful  monarchies  of  the  Franks  and 
the  Visigoths,  and  tlie  de])endent  kinirdoms  of  the 
Suevi  and  Burgundians  ;  Africa  was  exjmsed  to  the 
cruel  persecutions  of  the  Vandals,  and  the  savage 
insults  of  the  Moors ;  Rome  and  Italy,  us  far  as  the 
banks  of  the  Danube,  were  ailiicted  by  an  aimy  of 
barbarian  mercenaries,  whose  lawless  tyranny  was 
succeeded  by  the  reign  of  Theodoric  the  Ostrogoth. 
All  the  subjects  of  the  empire,  who,  by  the  use  of  the 
Latin  language,  more  particularly  deserved  the  name 
and  privileges  of  Romans,  were  oppressed  by  the 
disgrace  and  calamities  of  foreign  conquest;  and 
the  victorious  nations  of  Germany  established  a  new 
system  of  manners  and  government  in  the  western 
countries  of  Europe," 

Trumpet  IV. — Verse  12.  And  the  fourth  angel 
sounded,  and  the  third  part  of  the  sun  was  smitleuy  and 
the  third  part  of  the  moon,  and  the  third  part  of  the 
stars  ;  so  as  the  third  part  of  them  ivas  darkened,  and 
the  day  shone  not  for  a  third  part  of  it,  and  the  night 
likewise.] 

After  the  extinction  of  the  line  of  the  western 
Cesars,  by  the  downfal  of  the  star  of  Rome  in  the 
person  of  Augustulus,  under  the  third  trumpet,  the 
fourth  angel  piedicts  a  very  general  obscuration  of 
the  lights  of  the  empire. 

S 


138  THE   PERIOD    OF   THE   TRUIVIPETS. 

The  OBJECT  of  this  judgment,  are  the  sun,  moonj 
and  stars ;  the  judgment  itself  consists  in  a  stroke 
inflicted  upon  them ;  the  consequences  of  which  are, 
that  the  day  shone  not,  and  the  night  also  was  de- 
prived of  its  w^onted  light,  throughout  the  dominiona 
of  ancient  Rome — the  third  part  of  the  known  world. 
"  Darkening,  or  smiting  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars," 
says  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  "  are  put  for  the  setting  of  a 
kin<*"dom,  or  the  desolation  thereof."  Light  is  the 
symbol  of  joy ;  darkness,  of  adversity.  Thus  doth 
the  prophet  Isaiah  describe  the  burden  of  Babylon. 
Chap.  xiii.  "  The  noise  of  a  multitude  like  as  of  a 
great  people ;  a  tumultuous  noise  of  the  kingdoms 
of  nations  gathered  together:  the  Lord  of  hosts 
mustereth  the  host  of  the  battle.  Babylon,  the  glo- 
ry of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of  the  Chaldees'  excel- 
lency, shall  be  as  when  God  overthrew  Sodom  and 
GomoiTah.  Behold,  I  will  stir  up  the  Medes  against 
them.  The  stars  of  heaven^  and  the  constellations 
thereof  shall  not  give  their  light:  the  sun  shall  be  dark- 
ened in  his  going  forth,  and  the  moon  shall  not  cause 
her  light  to  shine.  Therefore  I  will  shake  the  hea- 
vens," &c.  In  a  similar  manner  the  prophet  Ezekiel 
describes  the  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of  Egj-pt. 
Chap,  xxxii.  7,  8.  /  will  cover  the  sun  with  a  cloud, 
and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light.  All  the  bright 
lights  of  heaven  will  I  make  dark  over  thee. 

It  was  in  the  year  476,  history  informs  us,  that 
Augustulus,  the  diminutive  Cesar  Augustus,  fell  from 
his  throne.  But  the  ancient  frame  of  Roman  go- 
vernment remained  for  some  time  after  the  downfal 
of  this  Imperial  Star.  The  political  heaven,  although 


FOURTH    TRUMPET.  139 

.iiaking,  was  not'yet  removed  ;'^neither  were  all  its 
IiVlits  extinguished.  In  the  time  of  Odoacer,  the 
Roman  Senate,  the  Cons^uls,  and  other  magistrates, 
were  only  subjected  to  a  suspension  for  two  years. 
When  Theodoric  founded,  in  the  year  498,  the 
Gothic  kingdom  of  Italy,  he  permitted  Rome  to 
maintain  in  its  ancient  government  some  appearance 
of  its  former  splendour.  It  was  in  the  year  566,  af- 
ter a  series  of  bloody  and  doubtful  wars,  that  Italy 
was  reduced  into  the  provincial  form,  by  the  empe- 
ror of  the  east ;  the  whole  form  of  Roman  govern- 
ment was  abolished;  the  Senate,  and  Consuls,  and 
other  magistrates  of  Rome  entirely  put  down ;  and 
the  proud  city,  the  queen  of  the  nations,  was  redu- 
ced into  the  miserable  condition  of  a  tributary  Duke- 
dom. Then  was  fully  accomplished  the  judgment 
announced  by  the  sounding  of  the  fourth  trumpet. 

Among  the  expositors  of  the  Apocalyptical  pro- 
phecies, there  is,  as  in  other  instances,  a  considerable 
diversity  of  opinions  with  respect  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  four  trumpets  first  in  order.  Those  who 
are  agreed  about  the  general  period  to  which  they 
refer,  diifer,  however,  in  matters  of  detail.  Mr.  Fa- 
ber,  who  commonly  improves  on  bishop  Newton, 
seems  to  me  to  have  erred  in  the  application  of  his- 
tory to  the  fourth  trumpet.  He  has  offered,  I  ad- 
mit, an  unanswerable  objection  to  the  exposition  of 
bishop  Newton ;  but  he  has  himself  applied  the 
fourth  and  the  third  to  the  same  event,  the  downfal 
of  the  last  Emperor  of  the  west.  In  this  he  is  entire- 
ly wrong.  The  bishop  was  but  half  right,  however, 
in  applying  it  both  to  the  overthrow  of  Augustulus, 


140  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPET?. 

and  the  entire  demolition  of  the  old  Roman  Senate. 
It  belongs  to  the  last  event  alone.  Mr.  Lownian,  in 
this  particular,  is  more  correct  than  those  who  have 
succeeded  him.  To  him,  upon  this  subject,  I  refer 
those  who  are  anxious  to  see  my  interpretation  sup- 
ported with  a  greater  variety  of  historical  facts. 

The  grand  object  of  the  judgments  of  all  the 
trumpets  is  to  overthrow  ih^  fourth  and  iron  kingdom, 
which  even  after  it  assumed  the  christian  name  con- 
tinued to  be  a  beast;  and  in  this  precise  point  of 
view  is  the  object  of  these  judgments.     Its  western 
dominions,  being  for  a  long  time  the  place  in  which 
the  saints  had  the  most  interest,  occupy  of  course, 
for  the  most  part,  the  attention  of  prophecy.     The 
eastern  empire  is,  notwithstanding,  far  from  being 
overlooked.     The  two  succeeding  trumpets  particu- 
larly apply  to  the  fourth  kingdom  as  it  existed  in  the 
regions  east  of  Italy :  but  upon  the  dismemberment 
of  the  western  empire  and  its  division,  according  to 
sacred  prediction,  into  ten  distinct  powers,  or  horns, 
the  business  of  the  trumpets  is,  with  respect  to  it, 
suspended  until "  the  time  of  the  end ;"  and  prepara- 
tion is  made  for  the  period  of  the  vials,  by  which 
this  new  power,  the  ten-horned  beast,  is  to  be  destroy- 
ed.    The  period  of  the  trumpets,  nevertheless,  pro- 
gresses as  it  respects  the  eastern  empire,  as  shall  be 
made  apparent  in  the  ensuing  lecture.     The  Seventh 
Trumpet  announces  the  entire  overthrow  of  Anti- 
christian  Rome. 

I  shall  noAv  bring  the  discourse  to  a  close  with 
some  remarks  upon  this  part  of  the  second  propheti- 
cal period. 


REFLECTION?.  141 

IV.   The  Concludinij;  Beflcclions. 

1.  However  great  the  eonfusioii,  wliicli  from  time 
to  time  appears  over  the  liislory  of  the  nations,  it  is  be- 
coming the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  both  to  under- 
stand for  themselves,  and  to  point  out  to  others,  the  re- 
lation in  which  the  events  of  history  stand  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Christian  religion,  and  to  the  interests  of 
the  church  of  God.  Like  "  the  living  creatures" of  the 
Apocalypse,  it  is  their  duty  to  say  to  intelligent  and 
inquiring  men,  "  Come  and  see."  Were  it  possible 
completely  to  separate  the  concerns  of  this  world 
from  those  of  Zion,  so  that  they  should  cease  to  ex- 
ercise any  reciprocal  influence  on  one  another,  there 
might  be  a  propriety  in  the  watchman  of  Israel's  re- 
fusing to  answer  any  inquiries,  such  as  What  of 
the  night,  or  the  morning  f  This  state  of  things  is, 
however,  morally  impossible.  The  policy  of  those 
nations,  in  which  Christianity  is  either  tolerated  or  es- 
tablished, will  be  more  or  less  alfected  by  ecclesias- 
tical considerations ;  and  it  is  unreasonable  not  to 
expect  that  the  church  will  feel  the  influence  of 
worldly  political  management.  All  the  events  which 
come  to  pass,  are  included  in  the  plans  of  Provi- 
dence ;  and  such  of  course  as  are  interesting  to  the 
moral  world,  deserve  the  attention  of  the  christian 
pastor.  Divine  revelation  too,  in  its  precepts,  and 
narrative,  and  predictions,  pays  ^rticular  attention 
to  national  concerns ;  and  thus  not  oidy  sets  an  ex- 
ample to  the  ministers  of  Christ  of  their  proper  duty, 
but  also  imposes  an  obligation  upon  them  to  be  ac- 
fjuainted  with  the  history  of  the  world,  in  order  to 
understand  and  expound  the  scriptures. 


142  THE    PERIOD   OF   THE   TRUMPETS, 

You  will  not,  therefore,  brethren,  charge  us  witli 
intermeddling  unduly  with  your  civil  concerns,  or 
with  violating  the  sanctity  of  the  Lord's  day,  by 
laying  before  you,  with  the  necessary  exposition, 
the  predictions  of  the  Apocalypse.  Assuredly,  the 
Christian  who  is  persuaded  that  all  things  shall  work 
together  for  good  to  them  who  love  God ;  and  who 
is  qualified  by  liberal  views  of  God's  moral  govern- 
ment to  form  a  proper  estimate  of  the  subject,  will 
c;onsider  of  importance  that  great  system  of  causes, 
and  their  various  operations,  which  finally  demolish- 
ed the  western  Roman  empire,  in  which,  since  the 
revolution  of  Constantine,  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
concerns  were  so  blended  together,  that  they  could 
not  be  otherwise  than  in  idea  distinguished. 

The  total  change  which  took  place  in  the  state  of 
society  in  Europe  in  this  period,  renders  the  era  of 
the  Trumpets  interesting  to  the  moralist.  "  How  far 
this  change  ought  to  be  lamented  is  not  now  a  mat- 
ter of  much  dispute.  The  human  species  was  re- 
duced to  such  a  degree  of  debasement  by  the  pres- 
sure of  Roman  despotism,  that  we  can  hardly  be 
sorry  at  any  means,  however  violent,  which  removed 
or  lightened  the  load.  But  we  cannot  help  lament- 
ing, at  the  same  time,  that  this  revolution  was  the 

a-' 

work  of  nations  so  little  enlightened  by  science,  and 
polished  by  civilization."*' 

It  was  by  such^  means  that  the  ignorance  which 
served  the  purposes  of  the  Roman  antichrist,  was 
universally  spread;  and  thus  upon  the  downfal 
of  Imperial  Rome,  "  the  man  of  sin"  was  speedily 
revealed. 

*  Russel's  Modem  Europe,  Vol.  I.  p.  11. 


REFLECTIONS*  14? 

2.  Amidst  the  revolutions  which  desolate  the  na- 
tions, we,  Christians,  have  ample  grounds  of  hope 
and  confidence.  Our  Saviour  reigns,  and  will  do  all 
his  pleasure.  Light  shall  arise  out  of  darkness. 
Order  shall  spring  from  confusion.  The  divine  pur- 
poses shall  be  accomplished.  The  generation  of  his 
children  shall  be  saved. 

Behold  him,  Cliristians,  in  whom  you  have  believ- 
ed, standing  bcfoie  the  altar  of  incense  in  the  upper 
temple,  makhig  continual  intercession  for  us.  We 
verily  have  an  Advocate  with  the  Father.  He  will 
not  plead  in  vain.  His  blood,  shed  for  the  remission 
of  the  sins  of  many,  speaketh  better  things  than  that 
of  Abel.  The  blood  of  the  martyrs,  unjustly  shed, 
calls  for  vengeance  on  the  foes  of  religion.  The 
blood  of  the  covenant,  making  satisfaction  to  divine 
justice,  calls  for  the  salvation  of  believers.  /  ivill,  O 
Fathti-y  that  they  whom  thou  hast  given  to  me,  may  he 
with  me,  that  where  I  am  they  may  behold  my  glory. 
The  prayers,  the  praises,  the  services  of  the  saints, 
are  accepted :  for  they  are  received  into  the  golden 
censer,  and  presented  by  the  High  Priest.  He  ne- 
ver, in  any  instance,  neglects  the  sighs  of  the  prison- 
er, or  turns  a  deaf  ear  to  the  solicitations  of  his 
anxious  disciples.  He  is  ever  merciful.  He  is 
moreover  just.  He  scatters  coals  of  fire  upon  their 
heads  who  obey  not  the  gospel.  When  he  has  served 
up  to  his  Father  the  devotion  of  his  own  church,  he 
casts  the  contents  of  the  censer  upon  the  earth.  All 
religion,  which  is  not  sanctified  by  his  grace,  be- 
comes a  curse  to  its  professors.  All,  who  have  no 
religion,  remain  under  tho  sontence  of  condemna- 


144  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

tion.  The  all-merciful  Saviour  is  the  all-righteous 
Governor.  His  sceptre  is  right.  His  enemies  shall 
perish  when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but  a  little.  Fly 
to  him  for  safety.  Fly  to  him  speedily;  before 
death  and  judgment  shall  overtake  you.  He  in- 
vites you  to  himself.  He  commands  you  to  betake 
yourselves  to  the  city  of  refuge.  He  assures  you  of 
a  ready  welcome.  Whosoever  comelh  shall  not  he  cast 
out.  Represent,  with  prayer  and  with  boldness,  your 
personal  condition  before  the  throne  of  grace. 
Forget  not  to  mention  your  brethren  in  the  profes- 
sion of  religion.  Plead  for  the  cause  of  your  in- 
vaded, your  sinful,  your  distracted  country.  The 
sword  is  hanging  over  your  heads.  Your  friends, 
your  neighbours,  are  already  suffering.  Your  busi- 
ness is  stopped ;  your  commerce  is  spoiled ;  your 
relatives  are  carried  into  captivity;  your  villages 
are  laid  in  ruins.  War,  with  its  accompanying  hor- 
rors of  robberies,  rapes,  and  miu'ders,  rages  in  your 
borders.  Repent  of  your  transgressions ;  mouin  for 
the  sins  of  the  land ;  confess  the  justness  of  the  Di- 
vine judgments.  Trust  not,  in  the  day  of  trial,  on 
the  arm  of  flesh.  Call  upon  your  Redeemer  to  turn 
to  you  in  mercy.  He  is  the  Governor  of  the  nations. 
He  directs  the  whirlwind.  He  controls  the  fury  of 
the  battle.  He  puts  down  and  sets  up  at  pleasure. 
The  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  neither  is  the  battle  to 
the  strong. 

The  time  for  visiting  Zion  is  at  hand.  Arise,  and 
call  upon  your  God,  who  is  able  to  deliver  you. 
"  Lord,  thou  wilt  ordain  peace  for  us :  for  thou  al-so 
hast  WTouscht  all  our  works  in  us.     Lord,  in  trouble 


CONCLUSION.  115 

iiave  they  visited  thee,  they  poured  out  a  prayer 
when  thy  chastening  was  upon  tliem,"  AY  hen  the 
blast  of  the  trumpet  is  heard  from  afar,  it  is  time  to 
fly  to  him  "  AVho  has  been  a  strength  to  the  poor,  a 
strength  to  the  needy  in  his  distress,  a  refuge  from 
the  storm,  a  shadow  from  the  heat,  when  the  blast  of 
the  terrible  ones  is  as  a  storm  against  the  wall." 

ComCy  my  people^  enter  thou  into  ihij  chamherSy  and 
shut  thy  doors  eihoid  thee :  hide  thyself  as  it  were  for  a 
little  moment^  until  the  indignation  be  overpast.  For, 
behold,  the  Lord  eomcth  out  of  his  place  to  punish  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  for  their  iniquity:  the  earth 
also  shall  disclose  her  blood,  and  shall  no  more  cover 
her  slain. 


T 


THE  TWO  WO  TRU3IPETS. 


LECTUjRE  VL 


Rev.  \x....An(l  the  Jiflh  angel  sounded,  and  I  saw  a 
star  fall  from  heaven  unto  the  earth ;  and  to  him 
lias  given  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit.  And  he 
opened  the  bottomless  pit ;  and  there  arose  a  smoke 
out  of  the  pit,  as  the  smoke  of  a  great  furnace  ;  and 
the  sun  and  the  air  were  darkened  by  reason  of  the 
smoke  of  the  pit.  And  there  came  out  of  the  smoke 
locusts  upon  the  earth,  SCc.  SCc, 

A  HE  religion,  taught  by  the  Son  of  God  for  our 
salvation,  hath  two  great  and  distinguishing  quali- 
ties— Truth  of  doctrine,  and  pure  morality.  Af- 
fecting both  the  understanding  and  the  heart  of  man, 
witli  that  invisible  power  which  produces  real  piety, 
it  makes  itself  externally  evident,  in  the  profession 
of  an  orthodox  faith,  and  in  a  deportment  truly  mo- 
ral. When  ehher  of  these,  when  either  truth  or  ho- 
liness is  absolutely  wanting,  we  do  not  merely  sus- 
pect the  absence  of  piety ;  but  we  are  certain  that 
it  does  not  exist.  Divine  revelation  assures  us  that 
Christians  are  all  children  of  ligiit,  and  are  also  sane- 


148  THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    TRUMPETS. 

tified.  By  works  without  faith  it  h  impossible  to 
please  God;  and  faith  without  works  is  dead. 

If  this,  brethren,  be  a  correct  representation  of 
Christianity,  it  is  easy  to  observe  the  certain  evi- 
dences of  its  decline.  The  departure  of  God  and 
of  true  religion,  from  among  a  professing  people,  is 
indicated  by  a  growing  deficiency  in  orthodoxy  and. 
virtue,  or  in  either  of  the  two ;  and  although,  it  may 
indeed  commence  with  any  one  of  them,  it  will  cer- 
tainly in  a  short  time,  if  a  reformation  do  not  pre- 
vent it,  extend  also  to  the  other,  and  accordingly  af- 
fect them  both.  Wo  be  unto  that  people  who  do 
not  resist  the  introduction  of  error  with  alacrity,  and 
who  do  not  promptly  express  their  detestation  at  the 
impure  behaviour  of  professed  Christians.  Such 
was  the  condition  of  the  Catholic  church  during  the 
period  of  the  Apocalyptical  trumpets,  particularly 
that  of  the  last  three,  at  the  close  of  the  preceding 
chapter,  called  the  Wo  Trumpets.  And  I  beheld, 
and  heard  an  angel  Jlying  through  the  midst  of  heaven, 
saying  with  a  lond  voice,  Wo,  Wo,  Wo  to  the  inhah- 
itcrs  of  the  earth,  by  reason  of  the  other  voices  of  the 
Trumpet  of  the  three  angels,  which  are  yet  to  sound. 

AVe  have,  in  this  chapter,  the  prophetic  history  of 
the 

LAST    PART    OF    THE    SECOND    PERIOD, 

including  two  of  the  Wo  Trumpets,  being  the  fifth  and 
sixth.  I  shall^  lay  before  you,  what  appears  to  me 
to  be  the  correct  interpretation  of  each  of  these 
two,  and  conclude  my  discourse  with  practical  re- 
flections. 


THE   OBJECT    OF    THE    FIRST   TWO    WOES.  1  tO 

We  have,  in  the  last  lecture,  i>iven  a  short  account 
of  the  state  of  the  fourth  great  king(Kim  of  the 
earth,  from  the  time  of  Constantine  to  the  dismem- 
berment of  the  western  empire  of  the  Cesars  into 
several  independent  kingdoms.  Then,  according  to 
the  prcidictions  of  Daniel,  this  beast  displayed  his 
ten  distinct  toes  or  horns;  and  according  to  the 
Apocalypse,  the  beast  with  seven  heads  and  ten 
horns  was  about  to  be  fully  revealed.  Had  it  been 
the  design  of  prophecy  to  jiursue  this  subject  in  pre- 
cise chronological  order,  limiting  its  remarks  by  the 
destinies  of  the  western  empire,  we  should  now  of 
coiu'se,  pass  on  to  the  contemplation  of  "  the  man 
OF  SIN,"  and  to  the  events  of  that  period  which  in- 
cludes the  reign  and  fall  of  antichrist.  We  should 
in  that  case  have  entered  upon  the  period  of  the 
vials,  the  first  four  of  which  immediately  refer  to  the 
state  of  things  produced  by  the  four  Apocalyptical 
Trumpets  already  expounded. 

This  could  not,  however,  be  done  with  consistency. 
The  grand  design,  of  exhibiting  the  state  of  the  mo- 
ral world  as  aflected  by,  or  affecting  the  social  con- 
cerns of  the  christian  religion,  renders  it  necessary 
that  the  line  of  chronological  order  be  in  the  first 
instance  followed  from  the  fourth  trumpet  to  the 
Eastern  Roman  empiie. 

At  this  period  it  was  more  interesting  to  the  church 
of  God  to  know  the  condition  of  the  East,  because 
the  emperor  of  the  east  was  still  the  principal  power, 
and  because  more  learning,  and  science,  and  probably 
more  of  the  members  of  the  church,  were  found  at 
that  age,  beyond  the  boimdaries  of  the  western  em- 


150        THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  TRUMPETS, 

pire.  In  process  of  time,  indeed,  it  became  other- 
wise, and  of  course  we  find  that  after  this  period 
comparatively  little  notice  is  bestowed  in  prophecy 
upon  either  the  Greek  churches,  or  the  nations  in 
which  they  are  established. 

The  period  of  the  trumpets  is  that  of  the  christian 
empire ;  and  after  the  events  of  the  fouiih  had  ut- 
terly demolished  the  political  heavens  of  the  western- 
system,  it  was  proper  under  the  fifth  trumpet  to  ex- 
hibit the  condition  of  the  eastern  third  of  the  world. 
The  trumpets  must,  of  course,  unfold  the  scenes 
which  completely  overturned  the  whole  christian 
empire. 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  that 
the  judgment  announced  by  the  fourth  trumpet  had 
produced  the  obscuration  of  the  political  lights  of 
ancient  Rome;  and  from  this  event  we  are  to  turn 
our  attention,  during  the  remainder  of  the  Period  of 
the  Trumpets,  to  the  state  of  the  moral  world  in  those 
regions  over  which  the  emperors  Of  Constantinople 
claimed  the  supreme  poAver,  until  we  shall  witness 
the  overthrow  of  this  last  representative  of  the  Ce- 
sars-  To  such  concerns  the  two  trumpets  before  us 
have  reference.     We  shall  give  the 

iivterpretati6n  of  each. 

Trumpet  V. — Being  the  First  AVo  Trumpet. 
Verses  1 — 11.  And  thejifih  angel  smuided,  and  I  saw 
a  star  fall  from  heaven  unto  the  earth  ;  and  to  him  was 
given  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit.  And  he  opened  the 
hoitomlcss  pit ;  and  there  arose  a  smoke  ont  of  the  pit. 


FIRST   WO   TRUMPET.  lol 

/i.9  the  svwkc  of  a  great  furnace  ;  and  the  stni  and  the 
air  ivcrc  darkened  by  reason  of  the  smoke  of  the  pit. 
And  there  came  out  of  the  smoke  locusts  upon  the  earth: 
and  unto  them  iras  given  poRCTy  as  the  scorpions  of  the 
earth  have  poner.  And  it  nets  commanded  them  that 
they  should  not  hurt  the  grass  of  the  earth,  neither  any 
green  thing,  neither  any  tree  ;  but  only  those  men  which 
have  not  the  seal  of  God  in  their  foreheads.  And  lo 
them  it  was  given  that  they  should  not  kill  them,  but  that 
they  should  be  tormented  five  months :  and  their  torment 
was  as  the  torment  of  a  scorpion,  when  he  striketh  a 
man.  And  in  those  days  shall  men  seek  death,  and 
shall  not  find  it :  cuid  shall  desire  to  die,  and  decUk 
shall  Jlee  from,  them.  And  the  shapes  of  the  locusts 
ivere  like  unto  horses  prepared  unto  battle;  and  on 
their  heads  ivere  as  it  were  crowns  like  gold,  and  their 
faces  were  as  the  faces  of  men.  And  they  had  hair  as 
the  hair  of  women,  and  their  teeth  were  as  the  teeth  of 
lions.  And  they  had  breastplates,  as  it  were  breast- 
plates of  iron  j  and  the  sound  of  their  wings  was  as  tJie 
sound  of  chariots  of  many  horses  running  to  battle. 
And  they  had  tails  like  unto  scorpions  ;  and  there  were 
stings  in  their  tails :  and  their  power  was  to  hurt  men 
five  months.  And  they  had  a  king  over  them,  which  is 
the  angel  of  the  bottomless  pit,  whose  name  in  the  He- 
brew tongue  is  Abaddon,  but  in  the  Greek  tongue  hath 
his  name  Apollyon. 

We  have  already  assigned  our  reasons  for  layinoj 
the  scene  of  these  events  in  the  eastern  empire :  and 
the  interpretation  must  proceed  accordingly.  In  the 
progress  of  my  exposition  abundant   internal  evi- 


J  52  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

dence  will  be  furnished  by  the  prophecy  itself, 
which,  independently  of  the  introductory  argument, 
Avill  prove  that  we  have  not  misunderstood  the  scene 
of  the  vision. 

The  sounding  of  this  Wo  Trumpet  announces  an 
approaching  judgment;  and  a  hieroglyphical  repre- 
sentation of  the  particular  agents  and  events,  is 
immediately  made  to  the  apostle,  and,  by  him  com- 
municated to  the  church. 

The  principal  objects  of  attention  to  the  exposi- 
tor, in  this  representation,  are 

The  fallen  star  opening  the  pit — The  locusts  is- 
suing from  the  smoke  of  the  pit — Their  king  Apoll- 
yon — The  depredations  which  they  committed — 
And  the  time  of  their  depredations. 

1.   The  fallen  Star. 

This  symbol  has  been  already  explained.*  A  star 
fallen  from  heaven  to  earth,  signifies  either  a  civil 
or  theological  character  degraded  from  the  politi- 
cal or  ecclesiastical  heavens.  I  cannot,  therefore, 
conceive  of  a  greater  perversion  of  figurative  lan- 
guage than  to  apply  it,  with  Dr.  Johnston,  to  the  e$:- 
altation  of  Pope  Boniface  III.  to  the  bad  eminence 
of  universal  bishop,  by  the  emperor.  The  applica- 
tion of  it  to  Mahomet,  whether  considered  in  the 
light  of  the  founder  of  a  religion,  or  the  head  of  an 
army,  is  also  incorrect.  Not  degradation^  but  eleva- 
tion and  success,  characterized  this  eminent  impostor. 

*  Page  136- 


FIRST    WO    TRUMPET.  I /)3 

He  never  fell  from  oillior  an  ecclesiastical  or  poli- 
tical heaven.  The  contrary  of  being  a  fiiUen  star 
was  the  case  both  with  tlie  eastern  impostor,  and  with 
the  Pope  of  Rome.  They  rose  from  obscurity  to 
eminence. 

Tliis  fallen  star,  with  a  key  bestowed  on  bin), 
opened  the  bottomless  pit — in  the  providence  of 
God  he  is  permitted  to  promote  tlie  purposes  of 
fallen  angels.  Instantly  a  smoke  ascends  from  the 
pit,  the  place  of  impiety  and  suffering,  that  ob- 
scures the  sun  and  tlie  air.  Truth  is  lii>ht.  Error 
is  darkness.  A  system  of  misre})resentation  and 
falsehood,  originating  from  the  father  of  lies,  and 
deceiver  of  the  nations,  is  tlie  smoke  of  the  pit  by 
which  the  sun  and  the  air  were  darkened.*  Such 
are  the  doctrines  of  the  Koran. 

The  fallen  star,  is  in  plain  terms,  a  degraded  "man, 
who  is  instrumental  in  contriving  a  system  of  delu- 
sion, of  which  hell  approves,  and  by  which  moral 
darkness  is  spread  abroad  among  the  nations.  The 
description  suits  the  monk  Sergius. 

AVe  shall  as  yet  only  name  this  man,  and  proceed, 

2.  To  take  a  view  of  the  locusts  issuing  from  the 
smoke  of  the  pit. 

Their  appearance  is  formidable  in  a  high  degree. 
They  are  compared  to  a  troop  of  horse  prepared  for 
the  battle.     Adorned  with  crowns,  with  a  maidy  coun- 

'  By  SMOKE,  in  the  figurative  laiitrunge  of  Scripture,  are  denoted 
(l:irk  confused  doctrines  cloutllng  tlie  light  of  [xire  revelation. — 
JVoofUiousc^  p.  201. 


154  THE   rEIlIOD    OF   THE   TRUMPETS. 

tenance,  Avitli  effeminate  ornaments,  as  the  hair  of 
women,  with  breastplates  of  iron,  with  scorpion  stings, 
the  sound  of  their  rvings  was  as  the  soimd  of  chari- 
ots, and  they  had  the  teeth  of  lions  to  devour  their 
prey. 

The  natmal  locusts  are  flying  insects  very  destruc- 
tive to  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  They  abound  in  Asia, 
and  sometimes  fly  in  astonishing  multitudes,  like  an 
immense  cloud  which  darkens  the  air,  threatening 
destruction  wherever  they  light.  They  constituted 
one  of  the  plagues  of  Egypt,  Exod.  x.  14 — 19.  and 
are  used  by  the  prophets  as  the  symbol  of  a  destroy- 
ing army,  Joel  i.  4.  and  ii.  4 — 6.  The  symbolical 
locusts  under  consideration,  issued  from  the  figura- 
tive smoke,  that  is,  were  excited  to  their  destructive 
excursions  by  hellish  delusions. 

We  are,  therefore,  to  look  for  the  fulfilment  of 
this  prophecy,  to  some  fierce  and  barbarous  people, 
who  appear  after  the  close  of  the  61h  century,  in  the 
eastern  empire,  influenced  to  cruel  warfare  in  im- 
mense multitudes,  under  tiie  auspices  of  a  system  of 
false  doctrines  contrived  by  the  instrumentality  of 
some  "  fallen  star."  The  history  of  Arabia,  the  na- 
tural seat  of  the  locusts,  furnishes  the  interpretation 
of  the  prophecy  in  the  conduct  of  the  Saracens. 

3.  The  locusts  had  a  king  over  them.  He  was  a 
messenger  of  hell,  the  angel  of  the  bottomless  pit. 
His  name  is  Abaddon,  or  Apollyon.  Both  these 
words  signify  a  destroyer.  This  king  is  the  person- 
age, who  acts  as  chief  over  the  destroying  armies, 
who  are  permitted  in  the  providence  of  God  to  in- 
flict judgments  upon  the  eastern  Roman  empire. 


FIRST   WO    TRUMPET.    .  I  .'}.5 

4.  The  power  with  which  this  new  foe  is  invested 
appears  to  he  placed  under  restrictions.  The  de- 
predations of  the  locusts  are  limited  to  that  class  of 
people  who  have  not  the  seal  of  God  on  their  foreheads. 
They  are  confined  to  those  nations  and  people,  who 
either  opposed  the  christian  relis;ion,  or  made  a  pro- 
fession of  it  without  receivinoj  its  truths,  or  expe- 
riencing its  living  power.  I'rue  Christians  are  to 
have  remarkable  protection. 

5.  The  time  in  which  these  locusts  prevail,  like 
the  natural  locusts  Avhich  expire  with  the  summer  that 
gave  them  orio;in,  is  graid  to  be  five  months. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton,  on  account  of  the  repetition  of 
five  months,  verses  5  and  10,  thinks  it  proper  to  dou- 
ble the  prophetic  time,  and  render  it  ten  symbolical 
months  of  thirty  days  each.  And  according  to  the 
prophetic  style  of  a  day  for  a  year,  this  would 
amount  to  a  period  of  three  centuries.  There  is, 
however,  no  necessity  for  thus  doubling  the  time  spe- 
cified. It  is,  indeed,  twice  mentioned  in  the  text: 
but  not  witli  the  design  of  adding  the  two  sums  to- 
gether. Bishop  Newton  is  more  correct  in  render- 
ing the  interpretation,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

The  effects  of  the  judgment  announced  by  the 
sounding  of  the  fifth  trumpet  may  remain  for  a  much 
longer  space  of  time ;  but  the  torments  infiicted  by 
the  Arabian  locusts  are  represented  as  peculiarly 
great  duiing  the  period  of  five  months,  being  one 
hundred  and  fifty  prophetic  days,  a  century  and  a 
half. 

This  trumpet  must  be  accordingly  explained  of 
the  WO  caused  by  the  Mahometan  Saracens,  for  the 


]56  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

space  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  rise 
of  their  false  propliet. 

The  events  of  that  period  are  so  interesting  a 
part  of  the  iiistory  of  man,  and  had  such  an  effect 
upon  the  christian  churches  of  the  east,  that  they 
ought  to  be  known  to  intelligent  men,  and  undoubt- 
edly merit  a  place  in  the  sacred  system  of  prophecy. 

That  great  peninsula,  whtch  is  washed  on  the 
south  and  east  by  the  waves  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  and 
Persian  Gulf,  and  on  the  west  by  the  waters  of  the 
Red  Sea,  has  since  the  remotest  ages  been  known  by 
the  name  of  Arabah  or  Arabia.  This  name  it  re- 
ceived from  the  most  distinguished  of  its  original  set- 
tlers, Yarab*  the  son  of  Joktan,  and  the  fifth  in  de- 
scent froffi  Shem  the  son  of  Noah.  Ishmael,  the  son 
of  Abram  by  Hagar,  settled  with  his  family  in  this 
country ;  and  his  descendants  were  mingled  with  the 
former  inhabitants.  It  was  not  long  before  the  idola- 
try of  the  Sabeans,  who  derive  their  name  from  Saba, 
the  great  grandson  of  Joktan,  became  prevalent 
through  the  greater  part  of  this  extensive  territory. 
But  of  its  internal  history  from  the  time  of  Moses 
until  the  commencement  of  the  christian  era,  we 
know  very  little.  From  the  Greeks  and  Romans  we 
have  derived  our  knowledge  of  ancient  nations;  and 
as  Arabia  defied  the  power  of  these  conquering  em- 
pires, they  have  not  been  at  the  pains  of  describing 
its  geography,  or  recording  its  history. 

The  Jews  were  scattered  throughout  this  country 
at  a  very  early  period,  and  the  first  ministers  of 
Christianity  planted  churches  among  the  Arabs.     Be- 

*  Jerah,  Gen.  x.  26. 


FIRST   WO    TRT^MPET.  I  Til 

V 

fore  the  close  of  tlie  si\(li  rciiliirv,  the  period  in 
wliich  Aral)ian  history  beciiine  i^vncrally  interestini^, 
the  Nestorian  lieresy  had  spread  over  the  greater 
part  of  the  churciies  of  this  peninsida.  Piety  and 
morals  iiad  declined  along  with  orthodoxy,  among 
Clnistians;  and  the  .lews  and  the  icU)laters  adliered 
to  their  religion  more  from  liabit  ilian  any  convic- 
tion of  duty.  The  most  powerful  of  tlie  Arabian 
tribes  were  the  Korcish  descendants  of  Isliniael. 
They  possessed  the  distinguished  honour  of  being 
guardians  to  the  Caaba,*  and  the  chiefs  united  with 
the  love  and  the  practice  of  war,  the  profession  of 
merchandise.  They  cariied  on  an  extensive  and  lu- 
crative commerce,  between  Persia  and  Egypt,  and 
India  and  Etliiopia. 

In  tlie  year  579  was  born  at  IVTecca  the  celebrated 
JMahomet,!  the  king  and  apostle  of  the  Arabs;  or 
to  use  the  words  of  the  sacred  text,  Apollyon  the  de- 
stroyer, king  of  the  locusts.  He  was  descended  from 
one  of  the  most  ancient  and  powerful  families.  His 
father  Abdallah  was  the  favourite  son  of  Motalleb, 
a  man  of  great  opulence  and  liberality,  who  suc- 
ceeded  his  father   Hashem   in  the  principality  of 

*  The  Caaba  was  the  sacred  temple  of  these  idolaters.  It  stood 
in  the  city  of  Mecca,  and  contained  about  360  idols,  besides' the 
statue  of  HoBAL,  the  princiiial  object  of  their  worship.  To  this 
terni)le  a  yearly  visit,  accompanied  with  gifts  and  costly  oblations, 
must  I)e  paid  by  the  devotees  from  ail  parts  of  Arabia. 

t  "  The  proj)ijet  Mohammed  can  no  longer  be  stripped  of  the 
famous,  tliough  improfier,  ajipeilation  of  Mahomet:  the  well-known 
cities  of  Alepjto,  Damascus,  and  Cairo,  would  abiiost  be  lost  ioythe 
strange  descriptions  of  IJalch,  Dainaahk,  and  Al  Cahira ;  and  we 
are  pleased  to  blend  the  three  Chinese  monosyllables  Con-fu-tzee, 
in  the  respectable  name  of  Confucius."     Gibbon. 


158  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

Mecca,  and  custody  of  the  Caaba.  The  aged  Mo- 
talleb  outlived  his  son,  and  took  under  his  protection 
the  orphan  grandson.  In  the  eighth  year  of  his  age, 
however,  Mahomet  was  deprived  of  this  guardian ; 
and  came  of  course  under  the  immediate  protection 
of  Abu  Taleb  his  uncle,  who,  himself  a  merchant  of 
the  first  rank  and  wealth,  now  succeeded  to  all  the 
dignities  of  his  deceased  father. 

It  appears  to  me  altogether  improper,  therefore, 
to  represent  this  impost ur  as  rising  from  obscurity  to 
eminence.  He  was  left  indeed  in  early  life  an 
orphan  without  a  patrimonial  inheritance:  but  he 
had  no  alliance  with  poverty.  He  was  educat- 
ed in  the  first  families  of  the  age :  his  connexions 
were  the  first  in  power  and  rank :  he  travelled 
along  with  his  uncle  through  Syria  and  Egypt, 
while  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits :  he  was  early 
made  acquainted  with  the  absurd  mysteries  of  the 
prevailing  religion ;  and  under  Abu  Taleb,  the  vic- 
torious general  of  the  Koreish,  he  served  in  a  suc- 
cessful war,  in  which  he  acquired  the  rudiments  of 
the  science  in  w^hich  he  afterwards  became  so  famous 
in  the  east.  In  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  his  age, 
Mahomet  found  himself  possessed  of  independent 
property  :  and  to  his  aspiring  mind  the  most  flatter- 
ing prospects  began  to  be  unfolded.  This  state  of 
things  was  brought  about  by  his  marriage  with  Ca- 
digha,  an  opulent  widow  of  Mecca,  whose  extensive 
mercantile  concerns  he  had,  for  three  years  from  the 
death  of  her  first  husband,  conducted  to  great  ad- 
vantage. 

He  now  began  to  cherish  the  hope  that  he 
might  repair  the  loss  incurred  by  the  death  of  his 


FIRST   WO    TRUMPET.  159 

lather  Abdallah,  wlio,  had  he  survived  liis  grandfa- 
tlier,  would  have  been  the  heir  of  his  fortunes ;  and 
would  have  of  course  Iransniitfed  to  his  son  the  first, 
dignities  of  Mecca.  His  intercourse  with  men  of 
different  nations  and  religions,  was  suflicient  to  con- 
vice  him,  that,  in  that  age,  there  was  no  possibility 
of  acquiring  influence  over  the  minds  of  men,  witli; 
out  some  show  of  religion.  That  of  the  Caaba  was 
evidently  declining ;  and,  in  its  present  state,  the 
chief  office  of  the  system  was  lodged  in  other,  and 
very  powerful  hands,  from  which  he  could  have  no 
hopes  of  wresting  it  for  hinjself.  The  Christians 
were  greatly  divided;  and  the  Jewish  system  was 
not  well  adapted  to  the  condition  of  the  Arabians. 
New  sects  of  diflerent  descriptions  were  frequently 
springing  up  with  various  success.  He  resolved  to 
become  the  prophet  and  apostle  of  a  new  religion. 
Intelligent,  wealthy,  courageous,  crafty,  ambitious, 
and  eloquent,  he  had  much  to  expect  from  his  influ- 
ence with  the  people ;  and  the  patronage  of  his 
powerful  relatives  promised  him  in  the  beginning 
protection  from  danger.  He  was  in  short  remarka- 
bly qualified  to  be  the  king  of  barbarous  fanatics,  or 
an  angel  of  hell.  All  that  was  necessary  was  to 
open  the  pit,  that  the  smoke  which  generated  the  lo- 
custs might  issue  forth — that  a  suitable  system  of 
religion  might  be  contrived  for  the  deluded  inhabit- 
ants of  Arabia,  a  mongrel  race  of  idolaters,  half  con- 
vinced of  the  folly  of  their  present  faith,  of  Jews, 
who  knew  but  little  of  their  own  Bible,  and  of  pro- 
fessed Christians,  without  understanding  or  piety. 

Mahomet  now  felt  one  deficiency  which  was  like- 
ly to  prove  irremediable.     He,  with  all  his  natural 


160  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

talents  and  acquirements,  lived  in  a  society  into  which 
literature  had  never  been  introduced  ;  and  he  cuuld 
not  himself  either  read  or  write.  The  Jews  and  iiie 
Christians  were  commonly  designated  as  Iht  people 
of  the  book  ;  and  no  new  system  could  be  reasonably 
expected  to  prove  successful  without  it  were  placed 
in  that  respect  upon  a  footing  with  others.  Without 
the  smoke  of  the  pit  nothing  could  be  done.  The 
Koran  must  be  contiived  and  executed  ;  and  to  this 
task  the  son  of  Abdallah  is  entirely  unequal.  He 
had  not  the  key  of  the  abyss.  The  Koran  is  the 
smoke  from  which  the  locusts  spread  over  the  land ; 
and  the  author  of  the  Koran,  whoever  he  is,  (and  it 
is  certain  it  could  not  be  the  pretended  apostle  him- 
self,*) is  the  person  designated  in  the  prophecy  as 
the  fallen  star,  unto  whom  was  given  the  key  of  the 
bottomless  pit.  This  man  is  Sergius.  To  him  must 
be  ascribed  the  work  of  composing  the  religion  of 
the  Musselman.  The  histories  of  that  age  appear, 
it  is  true,  at  a  loss  whether  to  ascribe  the  work  to  a 
Jew,  a  Persian,  or  a  monk ;  for  each  of  those  three 
were  associates  of  the  impostor:  but  internal  evi- 
dence is  furnished  by  the  Koran  itself  that  it  owes 

*  Mr.  Gibbon,  who  appears  to  have  had  a  ereat  affection  for  the 
impostor  Mahomet,  as  well  as  for  Julian  the  apostate,  adriiits  that  the 
false  j)rophet  was  illiterate ;  and  even  censures  Mr.  ^Yhite  {Bamp- 
ton  Lecture)  for  suggesting  a  doubt  u])on  the  subject.  I  think  it, 
however,  extremely  probable,  that  the  genius  of  Maliomet  could 
not  be  satisfied  with  remaining  entirely  ignorant  of  letters.  He 
certainly  had  a  sufficient  opnortunitj^  of  learning,  at  least  how  to 
read  and  write.  1  suspect  tills  was  in  part  liis  business  with  Ser- 
gius, and  during  the  time  of  his  retirement  in  the  cave  of  Rera. 
Unremitted  attention  for  two  or  three  years  might  accomplish  this 
object. 


FIRST    WO    TRFMrET.  I6l 

iti  orii^jin  to  some  one  ncquaiiitrd  with  Christianity; 
and  undoubtedly  the  Apocalyplifal  prediction  de- 
termines Ihe  question. 

It  was  a  fnUm  star  that  opened  the  bottomless 
pit,  and  set  loose  the  smoke  of  impost  me,  from  whence 
issued  the  Araliian  locusts  under  their  kini^,  the  dc- 
slrojjcr. 

Sergius,  called,  by  the  Arabian  writers,  the  monk 
Bahira,  was  a  minister  of  the  christian  church,  who 
had  fallen  into  error  and  immorality  of  the  deepest 
die.  He  had  belonged  to  that  class  of  people,  who 
in  those  days  of  dissention  were  called  NcslorianSy 
from  the  celebrated  bishop  Ncstorius,  of  Conslanti- 
nople. 

The  dispute  between  this  arrogant  Prelate,  and 
the  still  more  haughty  Cyril,  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
had  more  of  ambitious  policy  than  of  religion  to 
give  it  origin  and  support.  It  began  about  tlie  titles 
of  the  Yii'gin  Mary:  and  the  question  was,  whether 
she  ought  to  be  honoured  with  the  epithet  @ioro>co?, 
or  mother  of  God.  Nestorius,  in  adopting  the  nega- 
tive, was  upon  the  side  of  trutli.  This  dispute, 
however,  continued  until,  in  vain  attempts  to  explain 
the  union  of  two  natures  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  Nesto- 
rians  asserted  that  there  were  two  persons*  united 
imder  one  aspect. f  This  fixed  upon  them  the  charge 
of  heresy ;  and  their  eneiuies  triumphed.  To  this 
sect  of  Christians,  spread  over  Persia  and  Arabia  be- 
fore the  time  of  IVIahomet,  Sergius,  the  intimate 
associate  of  Mahomet,  and  the  principal  contriver  of 
the   system  which  bears  that  impostor's  name,  be- 

*    VTTOTxrui;.      }  BOT'-opa,  or   Tr^omTTo^. 


162  THE    PERIOD    OP    THE   TRUMPETS. 

longed.  He  had  contracted  an  intimacy  witli  the 
youthful  and  engaging  nephew  of  Abu  Taleb,  wliom 
he  first  met  at  Bostra,  a  city  on  the  confines  of  Sy- 
ria ;*  and  it  was  further  cherished  by  the  particular 
attention  afterwards  bestoAved  upon  him,  by  the  ele- 
gant husband  of  the  opulent  Cadigha,  when  he  revi- 
sited that  city,  or  when  they  met  at  Jerusalem.f 
Shortly  after  this,  Sergius  for  high  crimes  was  de- 
graded from  his  ministry,  and  became  a  "  fallen  star." 
Excommunicated  from  the  church,  and  expelled  from 
the  monastery,  he  fled  to  Mecca.  A  man  of  genius 
and  literature,  suited  to  the  purposes  of  Mahomet, 
and  now  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  labouring  for 
his  bread,  he  entered  readily  into  the  views  of  the 
grandson  of  the  famed  Motalleb.  Both  were  unre- 
strained by  moral  principle :  the  one  was  needy ; 
and  the  other  a  splendid  merchant,  of  uncommon  ad- 
dress and  boundless  ambition.  This  will  account  for 
the  connexion  which  they  formed.  Theophanes,  Zo- 
naras,  Cedrenus,  Anastasius,  the  author  of  the  His- 
toria  Miscella,  Friar  Richard,  and  several  other  his- 
torians, speak  of  this  fallen  Monk,  both  under  his 
proper  name,  and  that  of  Bahira,J  which  he  assumed 
in  Arabia  as  the  agent  in  composing  the  Koran.^ 
He  was  the  Gabriel  \\  of  Mahomet.     When  Sergius 

*  Pockock,  Hist.  Arab.  53—127. 

t  Prideaiix's  Life  of  Mahomet,  p.  32. 

X  BaJiira  is  an  Arabic  \vo»-«1,  signifying  a  catncl  turned  out,  on 
account  of  its  former  usefulness,  to  free  pasture. 

§  Prideaux's  Life  of  Mahomet,  p.  31—33. 

jl  The  impostor  pretended  immediate  intercourse  with  the  angcl 
Gabriel. 


FIRST  WO    TRUMPET.  163 

ha-^l  finished  his  task,  he  was  ])ut  1o  death  by  hisba^e 
patron,  fur  fear  he  should  afterwards  betray  the  im- 
posture. 

The  new  relii2;ion  proi»;ressed  after  a  few  years 
with  extraordinary  rapidity ;  and  in  its  j)rogress  be- 
came the  woy  announced  by  the  fiffh  ApocalijpUcal 
Irumpcty  which  fell  upon  the  eastern  e/npire,  and  ra- 
vaged tlie  adjacent  countries,  tormenting  men  for 
one  liundred  and  fifty  years  of  Saracenic  invasion 
and  conquest. 

It  was  in  the  year  606,  Mahomet  commenced  his  im- 
posture by  retiring,  under  pretence  of  extraordinary 
sanctity,  to  the  cave  of  Hera.  In  612  he  appeared 
as  the  apostle  at  the  head  of  his  disciples,  publicly 
to  propagate  the  new  doctrine.  Then  did  the  lo- 
custs issue  from  the  smoke  of  the  pit,  opened  by  the 
excommunicated  monk,  under  their  king  Apollyon. 
In  the  year  762  the  Caliph  Almansor  built  the  city 
oi Bagdad,  and  called  it  "the  city  of  peace."  A  stop 
was  then  put  to  the  devastation  of  the  locusts.  The 
Saracen  empire  continued  for  a  longer  time,  but  af- 
ter this  period  it  lost  the  disorderly  locust  character, 
and  became  a  more  regular  commonwealth.  Be- 
tween the  years  612  and  762,  during  the  five  months 
of  prophecy,  or  150  years,  the  Saracens  overrun  and 
subdued  with  terrible  depredations,  Syria,  Persia, 
India,  Egypt,  and  Spain. 

We  may  now  say  with  the  text. 

Verse  12.  One  no  is  past ;  and,  behold,  there  come 
tivo  noes  more  hereafter. 


J (31  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

The  second  wo  is  announced  in  the  succeeding 
verses,  to  which  we  now  turn  your  intention. 

Trumpet  VI. — Verses  13 — 21.  And  the  sixth  an- 
gel sounded,  and  I  heard  a  voice  from  the  four  horns 
of  the  golden  altar  which  is  before  God,  saying  to  the 
sixth  angel  which  had  the  trumpet,  loose  the  four  an- 
gels which  are  bound  in  the  great  river  Euphrates. 
And  the  four  angels  7vere  loosed,  which  were  prepared 
for  an  hour,  and  a  day,  and  a  month,  and  a  year,  for 
to  slay  the  third  part  of  men.  And  the  number  of  the 
army  of  (he  horsemen  were  two  hundred  thousand  thou- 
sand :  and  I  heard  the  number  of  them.  And  thus  I 
saw  the  horses  in  the  vision,  and  them  that  sat  on  them, 
having  breastplates  of  fire,  and  of  jacinth,  and  brim- 
stone :  and  the  heads  of  the  horses  were  as  the  heads  of 
lions  J  and  out  of  their  mouths  issued  fire,  and  smoke, 
and  brimstone.  By  these  three  was  the  third  part  of 
men  killed,  by  the  fire,  and  by  the  smoke,  and  by  the 
brimstone,  which  issued  out  of  their  mouths.  For  their 
power  is  in  their  mouth  and  in  their  tails :  for  their 
tails  ivere  like  unto  serpents,  and  had  heads,  and  with 
them  they  do  hurt.  And  the  rest  of  the  men,  which 
were  not  killed  by  these  plagues,  yet  repented  not  of 
the  works  of  their  hands,  that  they  should  not  worship 
devils,  and  idols  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  brass,  and 
stone,  and  of  wood ;  which  neither  can  see,  nor  hear, 
nor  walk :  neither  repented  they  of  their  murders,  nor 
of  their  sorceries,  nor  of  their  fornication,  nor  of  their 
thefts. 

Tliis  is  the  description  laid  before  us  of  the  second 
wo.     The  first  had  already  passed  in  vision  before 


^IXOXD    WO    TRUMPET.  IG't 

the  apostle  John.  "  One  wo  is  past."  Two  additional 
woes  t«liall  put  a  period  to  the  empire  which  is  the  ob- 
ject of  these  several  judgments.  "  There  come  two 
woes  more  hereafter."  The  eastern  empire,  the  ob- 
ject of  the  first  wo,  still  continued  to  stand ;  and  is 
of  course  attacked  under  the  sixth  trumpet.  ]\Iean- 
while  tile  western  empire  revives  under  a  new  form, 
and  becomes  both  more  guilty  in  tlie  sight  of  God, 
and  more  alarmingly  interesting  to  the  church ;  and 
in  this  character  it  is  the  principal  subject  of  both 
descri})tion  and  judgments,  in  the  succeeding  pro- 
phecies of  the  Revelation.  Its  downfal  is  efi'ected 
by  the  third  wo,  or  the  seventh  trumpet.  At  present, 
liowever,  we  are  to  expound  the  sixth  trumpet. 

I  have  already  in  this  discourse  given  my  reasons 
for  applying  the  Jlrst  and  second  wo  to  the  Christian 
empire,  as  it  still  remained  in  the  east,  Constantino- 
ple being  the  seat  of  power.  The  Arabian  locusts' 
under  Mahomet,  gave  to  this  power  a  shock  of  great 
violence ;  but  it  is  imder  the  sixth  trumpet  that  it  is 
completely  overthrown. 

History  so  minutely  describes  this  overthrow,  and 
the  means  by  which  it  was  effected,  that  ^heie  is  no 
avoiding  the  application  of  the  second  wo,  to  the 
Mahometan  conquerors  of  the  empire  of  the  Cesars. 
The  text  itself  too,  is  so  obviously  descriptive  of 
these  invaders,  that  almost  every  Commentator  of 
celebrity  explains  it  of  the  followers  of  the  impos- 
tor of  Mecca.  Mede,  and  Newton,  and  Faber,  par- 
ticularly, have  so  correctly  illustrated  the  judgment 
of  this  trumpet,  that  I  deem  it  sufficient  to  refer  you 
to  these  writers  for  a  satisfactoi-v  discussion.     The 


I 


166  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

objections  of  Mr.  Woodhouse  to  this  part  of  the 
scheme  of  interpretation  are  etlectually  superseded 
by  the  considerations  ah'eady  submitted.  Even  he, 
however,  is  constrained  to  acknowledge  the  applica- 
tion of  the  sixth  trumpet  to  the  Mahometan  devas- 
tations. 

The  objects  which,  in  this  part  of  scripture,  re- 
quire the  attention  of  the  expositor,  are  the  Euphra- 
tean  angels — the  specified  time  of  their  conquests — 
and,  the  character  and  consequences  of  their  warfare. 

1.  The  Euphratean  angels  and  horsemen. 
Verses  13,  14,  16. — And  the  sixth  angel  sounded^  and 
I  heard  a  voice  from  the  four  horns  of  the  golden  al- 
tar nhich  is  before  God.,  saying  to  the  sixth  angel rvhick 
had  the  trumpet,  loose  the  four  angels  whieh  are 
bound  in  the  great  river  Euphrates.  And  the 
four  angels  were  loosed. — And  the  number  of  the  army 
of  THE  horsemen  were  two  hundred  thousand  thousand. 

The  command  to  loose  the  four  angels  is  from  the 
Lord  God  of  heaven  and  earth — A  voice  from  the 
four  horns  of  the  golden  altar.  Yengeance  upon  the 
sins  of  men  is  proclaimed  from  the  very  sanctuary. 
The  Saviour  inflicts  merited  punishment  upon  them 
who  neglect  the  salvation  which  he  offers.  The 
command  to  loose  is  immediately  obeyed. 

The  four  angels  which  were  thus  set  at  liberty  to 
bring  the  second  wo  upon  the  eastern  empire,  are  the 
four  principal  sultanies  of  the  Turks.  These  were 
seated  in  their  respective  capitals,  Bagdad,  Damas- 
cus, Aleppo,  and  Iconium. 


SI'XOM)    WO     irxl'lMI'ET.  167 

It  is  not  tnlvino-  an  unjiisl  lilxMiy  will)  the  text  to 
explain  the  four  angt/s  as  tlit!  prophetical  syml)ol  of 
four  sovereignties.  An  angel  is  a  messenger;  and, 
when  communities  are  employed  in  tiie  providence  of 
God  k)v  accomplishing-  liis  work,  it  is  perfectly  in 
point  to  represent  them  as  his  ?nesseugers.  A  similar 
use  is  made  of  the  term  angel  in  reference  to  eccle- 
siastical proceedings,  in  the  descriptive  part  of  the 
Apocalypse.  In  the  epistles  to  the  churches  of 
Asia  Minor,  the  whole  ministry  of  each  city  is  ad- 
dressed as  one  distinct  community,  under  the  title  of 
"  the  angel  of  the  church."  This  is  evident  from  the 
fact,  that  the  one  figurative  angel  is  frequently  ad- 
dressed as  many  distinct  agents  throughout  these  epis- 
tles. It  is  equally  appropriate  to  represent  as  an 
angel  any  other  community,  employed  in  its  united 
character  under  a  suitable  leader,  to  execute  the  w  ill 
of  God. 

It  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  this  interpretation  that 
lliese  four  Turkish  sultanies  should  have  always 
existed  as  distinct  sovereignties ;  or  that  this  people 
never  should  have  made  war  upon  any  christian  na- 
tion before  the  sounding  of  the  sixth  trumpet:  But, 
if  before  the  time  pointed  out  in  the  sacred  predic- 
tion, the  Turks  had  been  well  known ;  and  four 
Turkish  sultanies  had  in  fact  existed,  and  had  also 
been  well  known  as  distinct  communities,  although 
actually  acknowledging  at  the  time  of  this  wo  one 
common  head,  there  is  certainly  no  incongruity  in 
designating  them  as  in  the  text  under  consideration. 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  are  still  commonly 
spoken  of  as  "  the  three  kingdoms,^^  although  they 


168  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

have  been  united  for  two  centuries  under  one  sove- 
reign. 

The  words  of  the  prophecy  furnish  us  with  other 
reasons  for  adopting  this  interpretation,  and  defend- 
ing it  from  the  animadversions  of  Archdeacon  Wood- 
house.  The  four  angels  were  hound  in  the  great 
river  Euphrates;  and  it  is  not  imtil  they  were  loosed 
that  as  myriads  of  horsemen  tliey  marched  on  their 
ferocious  warfare  for  the  entire  subversion  of  the 
Greek  empire.  The  location  of  these  four  powers 
in  the  regions  watered  by  this  mighty  stream,  affords 
a  geographical  description  too  accurate  to  be  over- 
looked. Every  scholar  acquainted  with  the  history 
of  the  Turks,  is  well  assured  that  this  was  the  prin- 
cipal seat  of  their  power  for  a  long  period  of  time 
preceding  their  successful  attacks  upon  the  emphe 
of  Constantinople.  Mr,  Joseph  Mede,  and  bishop 
Newton,  have  both  faithfully  applied  the  facts  to  the 
prediction.  I  shall  show,  in  the  proper  place,  that 
there  is  sufficient  reason  for  understanding  figura- 
tively the  river  Euphrates  in  the  judgment  of  the 
sixth  vial,  inflicted  upon  the  symbolical  Babylon,  the 
Latin  ,Roman  empire,  although  in  this  case  we  un- 
derstand it  literally  as  designating  the  country  from 
which  the  enemy  came  who  overthrew  the  eastern 
image  of  the  Cesars. 

In  the  territories  adjoining  the  Euphrates,  the 
Turkish  sultanies  had  providentially  been  confined 
against  their  vdll  by  the  successful  expeditions  of  the 
European  Christians,  until  the  latter  part  of  the  thir- 
teenth century.  Then  the  angels  of  destruction 
were  loosed;  and  the  Euphratean  horsemen  in  im- 


SECOND    WO.  I6i) 

mense  multitudes  fell  upon  the  subjects  of  the 
Christian  empire  of  the  east.  And  the  number  of  the 
anni/  of  horsemen  were  two  hundred  thousand  thou- 
'<nnd. 

2.  The  specified  time  of  their  conquests  next  de- 
mands our  attention.  Verse  15.  yind  the  four  an- 
gels were  loosed,  which  were  pj'cparcd  for  an  hour,  and 
a  dai/y  and  a  month,  and  a  year,  for  to  slay  the  third 
jiart  of  wic«.] 

The  third  part  of  men,  is  the  proplietical  expres- 
sion for  the  subjects  of  the  great  empire,  tlie  object 
of  this  wo.  To  torment  these  men,  the  expression 
employed  under  the  preceding  wo,  (verse  5.)  is  to 
harass  and  distress  the  empire ;  but  to  slay  them, 
signifies  the  extinction  of  its  name  and  power. 
This  Avas  to  have  been  accomplished  in  a  definite 
time. 

A  year,  in  the  symbolical  style,  consists  of  as  many 
natural  years  as  there  are,  according  to  the  Jewish 
chronology,  natural  days  in  a  year ;  and  thus,  the 
hour,  day,  month,  and  year,  will  amount  to  a  period 
of  391  years  and  15  days.  An  hour  is  the  twen- 
ty-fourth pail  of  a  day,  and  consequently  in  pro- 
phetical style  represents  the  twenty-fourth  part  of  a 
year.     Each  day  for  a  year,  Ezelv.  iv.  G.^ 


*  See  also  in  explanation  of  Ihe  origin  of  llii»  mode  of  calcula- 
tion, Numb.  siv.  34.  and  in  ronfirmafion,  Dan.  ix.  '.M. 


170  THE   PERIOD   OF   THE   TRUMPETS. 

Years.   Days. 

An  hour  is        15 

A  day  is 1 

A  month  is        30 

A  year  is 360 


The  whole  time 391  1 


According  to  this  calculation  the  time  allotted  for 
the  complete  subjugation  of  the  Const antinopolitan 
power,  and  for  the  establishment  of  the  Turkish  em- 
pire upon  its  ruins,  is,  fiom  the  first  success  of  the 
Euphratean  horsemen,  a  period  of  391  years  and  a 
few  days.  Had  history  been  as  faithful  to  the  dates 
in  respect  of  days,  as  it  has  been  in  mentioning  the 
years  in  which  signal  events  have  come  to  pass,  there 
is  no  doubt  but  the  most  perfect  precision  would 
appear  in  applying  the  facts  to  the  sacred  prediction. 
The  first  conquests  of  the  Ottoman  Turks  over  the 
Christians  took  place  in  the  capture  of  the  famous 
city  Cutahi ;  and  the  last  victory  by  which  any  ad- 
vantages accrued  to  that  power  in  the  augmentation 
of  the  empire,  was  at  the  capture  of  Cameniec, 

Cameniec  was  taken  in  ....,,.     .     1672 
Cutahi  was  taken  in         1281 


391 


"  The  Turks,"  says  Mr.  Faber,  «  under  Ortogrul, 
^ainecl  their  first  victory  over  the  Greek  empire  in 


SFCOiXD   WO.  171 

the  year  1261,  by  the  conquest  of  Cutahi;  in  the 
year  1357,  they  crossed  over  into  Europe:  in  the 
year  1453,  they  took  Constantinople;  and  the  re- 
maining provinces  of  tlie  empire  soon  followed  the 
fate  of  the  capital:  in  the  year  1GG9,  they  made 
themselves  masters  of  Crete:  and  in  the  year  1672, 
they  >vrested  Cameniec,  their  last  conquest  from  the 
Poles." 

3.  The  character  and  consequences  of  this  jvarfare. 

The  besieging  armies  were  an  innnense  multitude 
— iivo  hundred  thousand  thousand.  Mahomet  11.  had 
at  the  siege  of  Constantinople  a  fleet  of  two  hundred 
and  thirty  sail,  and  an  army  of  four  hundred  thou- 
sand men  to  co-operate  with  his  naval  force.  A  very 
great  proportion  of  this  army  was  cavalry. 

The  horsemen  appeared  in  vision  as  if  they  had 
breastplates  of  fire,  and  of  jacinth^  and  brimstone. 

The  colour  of  fire  is  red,  that  of  jacinth,  or  hya- 
cinth, blue,  and  of  brimstone  yellow :  and  this,  said 
IMr.  Daubuz,  "had  a  literal  accomplishment:  for 
the  Ottomans,  from  the  first  time  of  their  appearance, 
have  affected  to  wear  such  warlike  apparel  of  scarlet, 
blue,  and  yellow.'*  The  heads  of  their  horses  were, 
as  the  heads  of  lions,  to  denote  their  strength,  their 
courage,  and  their  fierceness.  Out  of  their  mouths 
issued  fircy  and  smoke,  and  brimstone,  which  destroy- 
ed the  men  that  opposed  them.  This  refers  to  the 
terrible  mode  of  warfare  (unknown  indeed  at  the 
time  of  the  prediction,)  which  was  introduced  under 
the  sixth  trumpet,  and  hath  since  been  practised  ex- 
tensively among  the  nations  which  arp  called  civil- 


172  'lilt    PERIOD   OF    THE   TRUMFETh. 

ized — the  destruction  produced  by  gunpowder. 
The  artillery  employed  by  Mahomet  the  son  of 
Amurath,  at  the  siege  of  Constantinople,  was  of  as- 
tonishing size,  and  produced  upon  the  walls  of  that 
proud  city  a  corresponding  effect.  One  of  these 
great  guns  is  said  to  have  been  drawn  by  seventy 
yoke  of  oxen,  and  to  have  discharged  rocks  of  three 
hundred  pounds  weight. 

The  army  under  consideration  bore  in  some  things 
a  striking  resemblance  to  the  Saracenic  locusts. 
They  had  tails  like  unto  serpents,  and  had  power  to  do 
hurt  by  their  tails.  The  wild  and  raging  fanaticism 
which  animated  these  ferocious  Mahometans  follow- 
ed them  wheresoever  they  went.  Their  soul-de- 
stroying religion  was  propagated  with  unabating 
zeal,  and  daring  cruelty ;  and  they  triumphed  alike 
over  the  persons  and  the  principles  of  all  that  op- 
posed them.  The  Bible  was  torn  from  the  hands  of 
the  degenerate  Christians,  and  committed  before  their 
eyes  to  the  flames ;  and  they  were  themselves  com- 
pelled throughout  the  extent  of  the  empire  to  do 
homage  to  the  Koran. 

The  consequences  were  not  salutary,  or  such  as 
indicated  refoiination  among  those  who  still  re- 
mained in  the  profession  of  the  Christian  faith,  either 
in  Europe  or  in  Asia.  The  idolatries,  the  heresies-;, 
the  immoralities,  and  the  gross  superstition,  which 
provoked  the  divine  indignation  against  those  who 
perverted  the  gospel  of  God  were  still  adhered  to 
with  persevering  obstinacy.  INIercy  had  been  abused, 
and  even  judgments  were  unprofitable  to  a  graceless 
people.  The  rest  of  the  men  which  were  not  killed  hy 
these  plagutSf  yet  repented  not  of  the  works  of  their 


REFLECTIONS.  173 

hands,  that  they  should  not  ivorship  devils,  and  idols  of 
gold,  and  silver,  and  brass,  and  stone,  and  of  wood: 
which  neither  can  see,  nor  hear,  nor  walk :  neither  re- 
pentcel  they  of  their  murders,  nor  of  their  sorceries,  nor 
of  their  fornication,  nor  of  their  thefts. 

The  Greek  thurcli  fell  with  the  Constantinopolitaii 
empire.  Jt  was  first  in  the  transgression,  and  it  first 
received  its  doom.  The  Latin  Roman  church  re- 
fused to  take  warning  by  the  wo  of  the  sixth  trum- 
pet; and  still  persists  in  its  impious  league  Avith  the 
beast  with  ten  horns.  The  third  wo,  or  seventh  trum- 
pet, puts  a  period  to  the  whole  system  of  iniquity ; 
but  the  consideration  of  this  judgment  must  for  the 
present  be  postponed.  The  time  of  the  seventh 
trumpet  falls  within  the  third  great  prophetical  pe- 
riod which  we  have  designated  the  period  of  the  vials. 
•  Before  we  proceed  to  the  investigation  of  the  pre- 
dictions which  have  reference  to  it,  this  lecture  must 
be  brought  to  a  close ;  and  we  shall  do  so,  with  the 
following  reflections. 

THE   CONCLUDING   REFLECTIONS 

respect,  TIte  nature  of  the  Mahometan  religion — The 
progress  of  the  great  power  which  is  its  principal  sup- 
port— and  the  necessity  of  carefidli/  distinguishing  from 
evert/  other  religion,  that  personal  piety,  which,  through 
the  faith  of  the  gospel,  prepares  for  eternal  lift^ 

1.  The  Mediometan  Religion, 

The  creed  of  the  Mussulman  is  essentially  the 
same  with  tliat  of  thQ  Sociiiiaus>  which  they  pre- 


174  THE   PERIOD   OF   THE   TRUMPETS. 

sumptuously  denominate  Unitarian,  as  If  they  alone 
worshipped  one  God.  The  coincidence  between  the 
religion  of  the  Mahometan,  and  that  of  the  modern 
Socinians,  has  been  distinctly  perceived  by  respect- 
able writers  of  different  countries,  and  has  been  ac- 
knowledged by  Socinians  themselves.^'     Professing 

*  The  learned  Hottinger,  Hisioria  Orientalis,  compares  the  doc- 
trines of  both  these  systems  together,  and  points  out  their  coinci- 
dence. The  Dean  of  Norwich  has  not  omitted  making  the  same 
remark;  and  Dr.  Magee,  the  author  of  a  very  learned,  acute,  and 
instructive  work,  on  the  subject  of  the  Seripticral  Atonement  and  Sa- 
crifice, illustrates  an  assertion  of  a  similar  import,  by  a  note  which 
I  take  the  liberty  of  laying  before  my  readers  at  full  length. 

"  It  deserves  to  be  noticed,  that  a  complacency  for  the  religion 
of  Mahomet,  is  a  character  by  which  the  liberality  of  the  Sociniaa 
or  Unitarian  is  not  less  distinguished  than  that  of  the  Deist.  The 
reason  assigned  for  this  by  Mr.  Van  Mildert  is  a  just  one.  Maho~ 
melanism  is  admired  by  both,  because  it  sets  aside  those  distinguish, 
ing  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  the  sacrifice 
upon  the  cross  ;  and  prepares  the  way  for  what  the  latter  are  pleased 
to  dignify  with  the  title  of  Natural  Religion,  and  the  former  with 
that  of  Rational  Christianity. — Van  MilderCs  Boyle  Led.  vol.  i. 
p.  208.  The  same  writer  also  truly  remarks,  (p.  202.)  that,  be- 
sides exhibiting  a  strange  compound  of  Heathen  and  Jewish  errors, 
the  code  of  Mahomet  comprizes  almost  every  heterodox  opinion 
that  has  ever  been  entertained  respecting  the  Christian  faith. 

Indeed,  the  decided  part  which  the  Unitarians  have  heretofore 
taken  with  the  prophet  of  Mecca,  seems  not  to  be  sufficiently  ad- 
verted to  at  the  present  day.  The  curious  reader,  if  he  will  turn 
to  Mr.  Leslie's  Theolog.  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  207.  will  not  be  a  little 
entertained  to  see  conveyed,  in  a  solemn  address  from  the  English 
Unitarians  to  the  Mahometan  ambassador  of  Morocco,  in  the  reign 
of  Charles  the  second,  a  cordial  approbation  of  Mahomet  and  the 
Koran.  The  one  is  said  to  have  been  raised  up  by  God  to  scourge 
the  idolizing  Christians,  whilst  the  other  is  spoken  of  as  a  precious 
record  of  the  true  faith.  Mahomet  they  represent  to  be  ^'  a  preach- 
er of  the  gospel  of  Christ;"  and  they  describe  themselves  to  be  his 
'*  fellow-champions  for  the  truth."   The  mode  of  warfare  they  admit. 


BEKLECTIONS.  17,1 

teverence*  for  the  christian  scriptures^,  these  Unita- 
rians quote  them,  reject  them,  and  pervert  them,  at 
pleasure  ;  and  pretend  to  found  upon  them  their  own 
incoherent  and  impious  dogmas. 

indeed,  to  be  difierent ;  but  the  object  contended  for  they  assert  to 
be  the  same.  "  We,  with  our  Unitarian  brethren,  have  been  in 
all  ages  exercised  to  defend  with  our  pens  the  faith  of  one  su- 
preme God ;  as  he  hath  raised  your.  Mahomet  to  do  the  same  with  the 
sword,  as  a  scourge  on  those  idolizing  Christians."  (p.  209.)  Les- 
lie, upon  a  full  and  deliberate  view  of  the  case,  admits  the  justice  of 
the  claim  set  up  by  the  Unitarians  to  be  admitted  to  rank  with  the 
followers  of  Mahomet;  pronouncing  the  one  to  have  as  good  a  title 
to  the  appellation  of  Christians  as  the  other,  (p.  337.)  On  a  dis- 
closure by  Mr.  Leslie,  of  the  attempt  which  had  thus  been  made  by 
the  Socinians,  to  form  a  confederacy  with  the  Mahometans,  the  au- 
thenticity' of  the  address,  and  the  plan  of  the  projected  coalition 
at  the  time  were  strenuously  denied.  The  truth  of  Mr.  Leslie's 
statement,  however,  (of  which  from  the  character  of  the  man  no 
doubt  could  well  have  been  at  any  time  entertained,)  has  been  since 
most  fully  and  incontrovertibly  confirmed. — See  WMtaker's  Origin 
of  Arianism,  p.  399.  Mr.  Leslie  also  shows,  that  this  Unitarian 
scheme  of  extolling  Blahometanism  as  the  only  true  Christiaidty, 
continued  for  a  length  of  time  to  be  acted  on  with  activity  and 
perseverance.  He  establishes  this  at  large,  by  extracts  fiom  cer- 
tain of  their  publications,  in  which  it  is  endeavoured  to  prove, 
"  that  Mahomet  had  no  other  design  but  to  restore  the  beli^ef  o!"  the 
Unity  of  God,  which  at  that  time  was  extirpated  among  the  ?t,a£tern 
Christians  by  the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity  and  Licamaiicn :  that 
Mahomet  meant  not,  that  his  religion  should  be  esteemed  a  new  re- 
ligion, but  only  the  restitution  of  the  true  intent  of  the  ChrisVian 
religion:  that  the  Mahometan  learned  men  call  thempel/es  iha 
true  disciples  of  the  Messias;"  and,  to  crown  all,  "  that  Mahom^t- 
anism  has  prevailed  so  greatly,  not  by  force  and  the  sword, — bi;f  }  :t 
that  »ne  truth  vi  the  Koran,  the  Unity  of  God^  And,  as  a  juFt  c.>.,- 
sequence  from  all  this,  it  is  strongly  contended,  that  "  the  'Tii''l'"3 
had  acted  more  rationally  in  embracing  the  sect  of  Mahomrt  ■'  \i 
the  Christian  faith  of  the  Trinity,  Incarnation,"  &c.    Leslie,         \. 


176  THE    PERIOD   OF   THE   TRUMPETS. 

The  impostor  of  Mecca  admitted  the  divine  ori- 
gin of  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament,  and 
gave  out  that  they  both  predicted  his  own  mission, 
as  superior  to  Moses,  and  even  to  Jesus  Christ.  In 
the  sixty-first  chapter,  the  Koran  has  these  words, 
"  Remember  that  Jesus  the  Son  of  Mary  said  to  the 
children  of  Israel,  I  am  the  messenger  of  God ;  he 
hath  sent  me  to  confirm  the  Old  Testament,  and  to 
declare  unto  you,  that  there  shall  come  a  prophet 
after  me,  whose  name  shall  be  Mahomet."*  Four 
texts  of  scripture  are  employed  to  prove  that  the 
son  of  Abdallah  was  a  teacher  sent  from  God,  Deut. 
xxxiii.  2.  Psa.  1.  2.  Isa.  xxi.  7.  John  xvi.  7.  I 
shall  not  however,  take  up  your  time  by  repeating 
the  argument  or  the  criticism  upon  these  passages. 
There  is  none  of  you  in  danger  of  taking  Mahomet 
for  the  Comforter. 

As  the  Mahometan  system  rejects  the  idea  of  an 
atonement,  and  of  the  sinner's  total  and  original  de- 
pravity, it  entirely  discards  the  doctrine  of  the  Tri- 
nity, and  the  divinity  of  .Tesus  Christ.  There  is  of 
course  no  place  in  this  system  for  regeneration  or 
sanctification,  in  the  christian  acceptation  of  these 
terms. 

Friday  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Moslem,  because, 
they  say,  God  on  that  day  created  man.  Prayer 
and  fasting,  and  alms-giving,  are  the  principal  ordi- 

pp.  216,  217.     Magee  on  Atonement,  p.  85.  New- York  Ed.  1813. 
Did  worldly  policy  answer,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Unitarians 
would  rather  bear  the  name  of  Mahomet  than  of  Socinus,  and  would 
prefer  the  Koran  to  the  best  system  of  christian  theology. 
*  Prideaux's  Life  of  Mahomet,  p.  110.  London,  1808. 


REFLECTIOXtu  177 

imncps  of  rells^Ion,  except  a  pilgrimage  to  INlecca, 
vvhicli  is  required  expressly  from  every  Mussulmim 
once  in  his  life.  The  doctrine  of  fatalism  is  derived 
by  Mahomet  from  the  divine  decrees ;  religion  is  to 
be  propagated  by  tlie  sword  rather  than  by  argu- 
ment ;  and  the  heaven  of  the  false  prophet  is  model- 
led, according  to  his  own  brutal  appetite  for  the  fe- 
male sex,  into  a  place  of  sensual  gralihcation. 

[t  has  been  much  disputed  whether  he  was  a  fa- 
natic or  a  deceiver  ;  but  there  is  no  ground  for  such 
disputation.  He  was  both.  He  was  enthusiastically 
ambitious.  He  believed  probably  in  many  false- 
hoods ;  and  he  contrived  others  to  carry  his  own  pur- 
poses into  effect.  Many  indeed  are  the  contradic- 
tions of  his  Koran;  and  all  admit  that  much  of  his 
pretended  revelation  Avas  publiblied  in  order  to  cover 
the  crimes  he  had  previously  committed.  His 
apologist,  Mr.  Gibbon,  cannot  deny  what  he  endea- 
vours to  palliate.  "  In  his  private  conduct  Mahomet 
indulged  the  appetites  of  a  man,  and  abused  the 
claims  of  a  prophet.  A  special  revelation  dispensed 
him  from  the  laws  which  he  had  imposed  on  his  na- 
tion ;  the  female  sex,  without  reserve,  w^as  abandon- 
ed to  his  desires ;  and  this  singular  prerogative  ex- 
cited the  envy,  rather  than  the  scandal,  the  venera- 
tion, rather  than  the  envy,  of  the  devout  Mussul- 
man."* 

Dean  Prideaux,  with  his  characteristic  industry 
and  good  sense,  examines  this  religion;  compares  its 
claims  with  those  of  Christianity  upon  our  faith;  and 
proves  it  an  imposture. 

'"  Hist.  Dec.  Vol.  VI.  p.  201.     Pliil.  1805. 

Y 


178  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

The  marks  of  an  imposture  which  this  writer  gives 
deserve  to  be  held  in  remembrance.  They  may 
Avith  propriety  in  other  cases  also  answer  as  a  crite- 
rion by  which  we  may  try  the  conduct  of  men. 
They  are  illustrated  in  his  letter  to  the  Deists, 
annexed  to  his  Life  of  Mahomet. 

Such,  Christians,  is  the  nature  of  that  cruel  and 
carnal  religion  which  has  been  forced  upon  millions 
of  the  human  family  by  the  sword  of  a  barbarous 
and  fanatical  foe;  which  fell  as  a  wo  by  the  just 
judgments  of  God  upon  a  corrupt  church  and  em- 
pire ;  which  triianphed  effectually  over  the  proud 
battlements  of  Constantinople ;  and  which  holds  in 
ignorance  and  bondage  until  this  day  a  sixth  part 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth. 

2.  The  progress  of  the  great  power,  which  is  at 
present  the  principal  support  of  Mahometan  delu- 
sion, deserves  attention,  as  the  1260  years  of  its  pre- 
valence against  true  religion  are  drawing  near  an 
end.* 

Having  spread  generally  through  the  east  under 
the  empire  of  the  Saracens,  according  to  the  predic- 
tions of  the  fifth  trumpet,  the  first  wo,  it  was  by  the 
success  of  the  Ottoman  Turks  the  religion  of  Ma- 
homet became  established  throughout  the  vast  extent 
of  the  Christian  empire  of  the  eastern  Cesars. 

The  Turks  originally  occupied  the  high  lands  of 
Siberia,  now  occupied  by  the  Tartars  and  Calmucks, 
extendingfrom  Caf,orImmaus,  to  Mount  Atlas,  being, 
probably  the  centre  and  the  summit  of  Asia.     They 

■   I  shall  hereafter  ishow  the  justness  of  this  computation. 


REFLECTIONS.  179 

were  the  most  contemptible  of  the  slaves,  workino; 
the  iron  forges  of  the  great  Khan  of  Geougen.  At 
first  a  ferocious  and  lawless  race,  they  soon  enslaved, 
under  tlie  auspices  of  an  upstart  leader,  their  former 
masters,  and  became  a  terror  to  the  surrounding  na- 
tions. Roman  history  takes  notice  of  them  as  early 
as  the  age  of  Pliny ;  and  six  hundred  years  before 
the  Ottoman  power  was  known,  they  were  a  terror  not 
only  to  the  Chinese,  but  also  to  the  Greek  Roman 
empire.  Spreading  to  the  south,  several  tribes  of 
the  Turks  became  subject  to  the  Saracenic  empire  i 
and  the  Caliph  Motassem  had  in  the  ninth  century 
upwards  of  fifty  thousand  Turkish  youth  educated 
in  the  ^lahometan  reliarion  as  the  ""uards  of  his  ca- 
pital.  The  progress  of  the  Turks  is  rapidly  sketch- 
ed with  a  masterly  hand  in  the  following  sentence, 
which  1  quote  from  a  well-known  historian.  "  Their 
Scythian  empire  of  the  sixth  century  was  long  since 
dissolved  ;  but  the  name  was  still  famous  among  the 
Greeks  and  Orientals ;  and  the  fragments  of  the  na- 
tion, each  a  pow^erful  and  independent  people,  were 
scattered  over  the  desert  from  China  to  tlie  Oxus 
and  the  Danube ;  the  colony  of  Hungarians  Avas  ad- 
milted  into  the  republic  of  Europe,  and  the  thrones 
of  Asia  were  occupied  by  slaves  and  soldiers  of 
Turkish  extraction.  While  Apulia  and  Sicily  w^ere 
subdued  by  the  Norman  lance,  a  swarm  of  these 
northern  shepherds  overspread  the  kingdoms  of  Per- 
sia: their  princes  of  the  race  of  Seljuk,  erected  a 
splendid  and  solid  empire  from  Samarcam  to  the 
confines  of  Greece  and  Egypt ;  and  the  Turks  have 
maintained  their  dominion  in  Asia  IMiiior,  till  the  vie- 


180  THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    TRUMPETS. 

torious  crescent  has  been  planted  on  the  dome  of  St. 
Sophia."*  In  the  space  of  twenty-five  years,  from 
1055  to  1080,  Togrul  Beg,  Ducas,  Melech,  and  Cutlu 
Muses,  and  his  son,  erected  four  distinct  sultanies  in 
the  regions  watered  by  the  Euphrates,  and  fixed  their 
respective  thrones  in  Bagdad,  Damascus,  Aleppo, 
and  Iconium.  Confined  to  their  own  country,  as 
bound  angels,  it  was  not  until  some  hundred  years 
thereafter,  the  Turks,  who  had  been  previously  united 
under  Olhman,  tlie  founder  of  the  Ottoman  Empire, 
were  let  loose  to  invade  the  dominions  of  the  Greek 
Christians.  That  power,  since  the  present  commo- 
tions of  modern  Europe  have  commenced,  appears 
rapidly  on  the  decline,  and  it  continues  to  exist  only 
by  the  jealousies  which  vainly  strive  to  preserve  the 
balance  of  empire  in  the  great  commonwealth  of 
civilized  nations. 

3.  Let  us  in  reviewing  this  fanaticism,  learn  to  dis- 
tinguish true  religion  from  every  other  system. 

Scepticism  often  proceeds  from  the  contemplation 
of  the  numerous  and  disorderly  sectaries  which  make 
a  pretension  to  real  religion ;  because,  the  under- 
standing is  amazed,  and  the  moral  sense  is  hardened, 
at  the  sight  of  so  many  extravagancies  and  delusions, 
as  have  from  time  to  time  distracted  the  nations  and 
the  churches  of  the  world.  Every  religion  proposes 
to  make  man  happy  in  the  worship  of  a  superior  be- 
ing. The  christian  religion  alone  teaches  that  the 
sinner  cannot  have  friendship  with  God,   but  in  a 

^  Hist.  Dec.  and  Pall,  Vol.  VII.  p.  157. 


MKFLECTIO^TS.  181 

Divine  Mediator, 'upon  the  foot  ins;  of  a  perfectly 
satisfactory  atonement.  This,  biethren,  is  its  essen- 
tial characteristic.  In  order  to  be,  even  in  theory, 
a  true  Christian,  it  is  indis]HMisal)ly  necessary  to  be- 
lieve that  every  sinner  is,  in  himself  considered, 
Justly  condemned  to  everlasting  punishment ;  that 
Jesus  Christ  has  made  perfect  satisfaction  to  divine 
justice  for  the  sins  of  men  ;  and  that  justice  not  only 
admits,  but  requires,  that  every  sinner  who  is  imited 
by  grace  to  Jesus  Christ  in  the  new  covenant,  shall, 
being  in  Christ,  be  saved  with  an  everlasting  salva- 
tion. To  be  a  Christian,  not  merely  in  theory,  but 
in  fact,  is  to  be  thus  united  by  a  living  faith  to  the 
only  Redeemer  of  God's  elect. 

Such  are  the  Christians  wlio  profit  by  the  sorrows 
of  life  ;  who  seek  the  glory  of  tlieir  Father  and  their 
(iod ;  who  are  unhurt  by  the  trumpet  of  wo ;  and  who, 
under  the  sound  of  the  glorious  gospel,  march  to  con- 
quest and  to  triumph.  There  is,  thercfoie,  norv  no 
(ondemnaiion  to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Amk.x. 


THE  SEVENTH  TRUMPET, 

OR, 

TniRB    WO. 


LECTURE  VII. 

Rev.  xi.  14 — 19... .The  second  wo  is  past;  and  behold, 
the  third  no  conicfh  quickly.  And  the  seventh  angel 
sounded  J  and  there  nere  great  voices  in  heaven,  say- 
ing. The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the  king- 
doms of  our  Lord,  and  of  his  Christ;  and  he  shall 
reign  for  ever  and  ever.  And  the  four  and  twenty 
elders  which  sat  before  God  on  their  seals,  fell  upon 
their  faces  and  worshipped  God,  saying.  We  give 
thee  thanks,  O  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  art,  and 
wast,  and  art  to  come ;  because  thou  hast  taken  to 
thee  thy  great  power,  and  hast  reigned.  And  the 
nations  were  angry,  and  thy  wrath  is  come,  and  the 
time  of  the  dead  that  they  should  be  judged,  and  thou 
shouldest  give  reward  unto  thy  servants  the  prophets, 
and  to  the  saints,  and  Ihem  that  fear  thy  name,  small 
and  great ;  and  shoiddest  destroy  them  which  destroy 
the  earth.     And  the  temple  of  God  rvas  opened  in 


184  SEVENTH    TRUMPET. 

heaven,  and  there  was  seen  in  his  temple  the  ark  of 
his  testament :  and  there  were  lightnings y  and  voices, 
and  thunder ings,  and  an  earthquake,  and  great  hail. 

JL  O  propose  maxims  of  civil  polity,"  said  the  very 
eloquent  Saurin,  in  his  discourse  on  the  words  of 
Solomon,  Pro  v.  xiv.  34.  Righteousness  exalteth  a  na- 
tion, "  to  propose  maxims  of  civil  polity  in  a  reli- 
gious assembly,  to  propose  maxims  of  religion  in  a 
political  assembly,  are  two  things,  which  seem  alike 
senseless  and  imprudent.  The  Christian  is  so  often 
distinguished  from  the  statesman,  that  it  would  seem 
they  are  opposite  characters." 

If  the  pastor  of  the  French  church  at  the  Hague, 
thus  spoke  to  his  audience  in  the  beginning  of  the 
last  century,*  he  would  have  no  reason  to  alter  his 
opinion  had  he  been  now  in  the  nineteenth  century 
addressing  an  American  assembly.  In  this  country, 
where  every  one  is  a  politician,  and  few  are  religious, 
the  sentiments  of  the  many  predominate.  The  politics 
of  every  man  influences  his  religion;  religion  has 
little  influence  on  politics.  This  political  degrada- 
tion of  Christianity  is  not  however  peculiar  to  the 
United  States ;  it  is  universally  prevalent  among 
the  nations  of  Christendom.  Here,  indeed,  the  ge- 
neral opinion  is,  that  religion  is  no  fit  subject  of  po- 
litical consideration,  civil  polity  is  no  fit  subject  of 
religious  consideration:  but  in  other  countries,  the 
state  has  intermeddled  with  Christianity  in  order  to 
degrade  religion  itself  under  pretence  of  establish- 

'^   1706. 


THE    THIRD    WO.  185 

ino"  the  church  ;  and  the  priests  have  sold  the  Chris- 
tians' riglits  and  liberties  to  the  reigning  authorities. 
This  state  of  things  was  both  foreseen  and  foretold 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Author  of  our  religion, 
and  the  Governor  of  all  ttie  nations  of  the  earth. 
The  awful  consequences  of  such  a  state  were  also  pre- 
dicted, together  with  the  period oi  time  when  a  happy 
change  should  be  effected — Wo,  Wo,  Wo,  to  the 
inhabiters  of  the  earth,  in  consequence  of  their  abuse 
of  Christianity.  But,  in  the  days  of  the  voice  of  the 
seventh  angel.  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are 
become  the  kingdoms  of  our  lord  and  of  his 
Christ. 

the  seventh  trumpet 

being  now  under  consideration,  Ave  shall  endeavour 
to  settle  the  question  respecting  its  chronology— un- 
fold tlie  contents  of  its  predictions — and  make  some 
appropriate  animadversions. 

The  period  of  the  trumpets,  it  has  been  already 
shown,  commenced  at  the  close  of  that  of  the  seals, 
or  rather  at  the  opening  of  the  seventh  seal,  in  the 
fourth  century  ;'*  and  the  object  of  the  judgments 
announced  by  the  trumpets,  is  the  Roman  empire, 
the  FOURTH  BEAST  of  pi'ophecy,  degrading  tlie  Chris- 
tian religion  into  a  corrupt  system  interwoven  with 
its  own  tyrannical  polity .f  The  first  four  trumpets 
accomplished  the  overthrow  of  ancient  Rome,  by 
the  complete  dismeinbermcnt  of  the  ivestern  em- 
pire of  the  Cesars.  The  fifth  tormented,  and  the 
sixth  destroyed  the  Greek  empire,  leaving  the  Ottn- 

"'  Page  117—125.         +  P:ij;e  120—122. 

z 


186  SEVENTH    TRUMPET. 

man  power  in  possession  of  the  throne  of  Constanti- 
nople.* These  two  are  wo  trumpets  as  well  as  that 
one  which  is  the  theme  of  the  present  discourse. 
Early  in  the  seventh  century,  the  first  wo  was  sound- 
ed, and  the  judgment  commenced  in  612.  The  tor- 
ments inflicted  upon  the  adjacent  nations  for  150 
years  were  peculiarly  great;  but  the  Saracenic  con- 
quests were  suspended  in  762.  The  remote  effects 
of  the  first  avo,  still,  nevertheless,  continue.  The 
destructive  period  of  the  Euphratean  horsemen  com- 
menced in  the  year  1281,  and,  continuing  for  391 
years,  terminated  in  1 672.  About  six  hundred  years  of 
confusion  intervened  between  the  fiist  and  the  second 
wo ;  but  the  time  between  the  second  and  the  third, 
between  the  year  1672  and  the  sounding  of  the  se- 
venth trumpet,  is  comparatively  short.  This  is  evi- 
dent from  inspection  of  the  sacred  text,  and  we, 
accordingly,  proceed  to  show% 

I.   The  time  of  the  third  wo. 

In  settling  the  chronological  Cjuestion,  w^e  shall  lay 
before  you, 

1.  The  argument  from  verse  14.  The  second  wo  is 
past;  and,  behold,  the  third  wo  cometh  quickly.'] 
Several  valuable  expositors  have  been  misled  by 
an  improper  interpretation  of  the  expression,  the  se- 
cond wo  is  past.  It  being  understood  by  some,  to 
signify  merely,  that  the  hieroglyphical  representation, 
to  John  the  Divine,  had  passed  before  the  representa- 
tion of  the  second  wo  appeared,  they  of  course 
date  the  third  wo  soon  after  the  second,  without  al- 
*  See  preceding  Lecture. 


TIME    OF    THE    THTKI)    WO.  187 

lowing  time  for  the  391  years  to  be  expended. 
Otliers,  upon  the  contrary,  inragining  that  the  power, 
by  wliich  the  second  wo  was  indicted,  must  become 
extinct  before  tlie  third  wo  commences,  postpone  the 
period  of  the  seventh  trumpet  until  tlie  final  over- 
throw of  the  Ottoman  empire.  Both  are  certainly 
mistaken.  The  assertion,  the  second  no  is  past,  does 
not  respect  the  existence  of  the  power  which  inflicts; 
but  of  the  judgment  itself  inflicted,  during  the  spe- 
cified time  of  391  years,  upon  the  Greek  Christian 
empire.  It  was  not  of  the  vision  it  was  said,  it  is 
past ;  but  of  the  wo  which  was  represented  in  vision. 
It  was  therefore  in  the  year  1 672,  that  tiie  second  wo 
was  in  fact  past. 

Tlie  text  assures  us  that  the  third  wo  cometh  quickly 
after  this  year.  Tx-xy,  the  Greek  word  rendered  quick- 
ly, must  be  understood  comparatively.  Swift  and 
slow,  although  in  what  Grammarians  denominate  the 
positive  form,  have  nevertheless  a  comparative  signi- 
fication. A  swift  horse,  a  sliarp  instrument,  a  great 
man,  are  expressions  which  necessarily  imply  com- 
parison, although  the  adjective  is  not  in  what  is  called 
the  comparative  degree :  and  in  each  instance  the 
comparison  is  confined  to  objects  of  a  like  kind.  Tx^^ 
must  be  explained  upon  this  principle.  It  must  be 
understood  comparatively,  and  the  comparison  must  be 
Avith  the  other  wo  trumpets  already  expounded. 

It  is  also  disputed,  whether  the  celerity  implied  in 
the  words,  "cometh  quickly,"  is  ascril)ed  to  the 
time  intervening  between  the  second  and  third  wo, 
or  to  the  time  in  which  this  wo  itself  is  in  fact,  inflict- 
ed. I  see  no  reason  for  denying  its  application  to 
both ;  and  therefore  conclude  tliat  the  third  wo  fol- 


188  SEVENTH    TRUMPET. 

lows  the  second  in  much  quicker  succession  than  the 
second  did  the  first,  and  that  the  judgment  which  it 
inflicts  is  more  speedy  in  its  execution  than  either  of 
the  former  two. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  first  wo  it  was  said.  Chap. 
ix.  12.  There  come  two  woes  more  hereafter;  but  in 
this  case  it  is  said,  the  third  wo  cometh  quickly.  We 
are  thus  given  to  understand  that  a  considerable  space 
of  time  would  intervene  between  the  fifth  and  the 
sixth  trumpet:  and  but  a  short  space  between  the 
sixth  and  the  seventh. 

Now  as  these  trumpets  occupied,  the  one  a  period 
of  150  years,  and  the  other  a  period  of  nearly  400, 
the  intervening  period,  in  order  to  be  comparatively 
great,  should  exceed  any  of  those  numbers.  We 
find,  accordingly,  that  it  Avas  in  fact  upwards  of  500 
years.  But,  the  third  wo,  or  seventh  trumpet,  ap- 
proaches with  comparative  celerity.  The  interven- 
ing time  will  not  probably  exceed  150  years;  and 
the  tremendous  judgment  which  the  last  wo  brings, 
will  execute  its  purposes  in  a  much  shorter  space  of 
time. 

These  considerations  would  lead  us  to  expect,  even 
independently  of  what  our  eyes  have  seen,  and  our 
ears  have  heard,  some  terrible  scourge  to  the  apos- 
tate nations  about  the  period  in  which  we  live.  I 
shall  not  at  present  speak  more  pointedly :  but, 

2.  Proceed  by  another  train  of  reasoning  to  ascer- 
tain the  period  of  the  seventh  trumpet. 

You  will  have  observed  at  the  time  of  my  reading 
this  text,  that  I  passed  over  a  large  and  very  inter- 


TIME    OF    THK    THIRD    WO.  189 

eslinaj  portion  of  llie  A])0(alypse — the  Avhole  tenth 
chapter,  and  tlie  greater  part  of  the  eleventh. 

Every  attentive  reader  will  readily  perceive  that 
the  seventh  trumpet  is  separated  from  the  preceding 
trumpets  by  a  great  deal  of  other  matter  in  the  ac- 
tual arrangement  of  the  book  of  Revelation.  This 
is  the  more  worthy  of  notice,  because  it  is  a  sin- 
gular instance  of  deviation  from  what  we  may  call 
the  natural  order.  The  seven  epistles  to  tlie  Asian 
churches  follow  one  another  in  regular  succession, 
and  without  interruption.  The  seven  seals  are 
opened  in  similar  order,  and  no  foreign  event  is  in- 
troduced to  unsettle  or  distract  the  chronology. 
The  first  six  trumpets  proceed  the  one  after  the 
other  in  the  same  order  in  the  written  revelation, 
which  the  events  predicted  followed  in  their  accom- 
plishment. The  seven  vials  are  poured  out  in  the 
same  manner;  and  the  account  of  them  in  the  xvith 
chapter,  is  not  interrupted  by  any  other  narrative. 
The  suspension  of  the  history  of  the  woes,  which 
takes  place  between  the  second  and  the  third,  is 
therefore  evidently  without  a  parallel.  Nor  is  this 
fact  owing  to  the  intervening  length  of  time ;  for  the 
one  follows  the  other,  as  we  have  already  seen,  with 
comparative  celerity.  The  interposition  of  the  se- 
venth chapter  between  the  narrative  of  the  sixth  and 
of  tlie  seventh  seal,  is  not  at  all  a  case  of  the  same 
description.  That  which  is  foretold  in  that  chapter 
really  belongs  to  the  very  time  at  which  it  is  intro- 
duced. The  four  angels  who  stayed  the  winds  of 
heaven,  and  the  act  of  the  angel  sealing,  among  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  the  true  servants  of  the  living 
God,  both  belong  to  the  age  of  Constantine  and  his 


190  SEVENTH   TRUMPET. 

three  sons ;  and  were  the  means  of  preserving  from 
the  prevalent  corruptions  of  religion,  the  actual 
church  of  Christ.  It  is  c[uite  otherwise  in  the  case 
under  consideration.  The  eleventh  chapter,  from 
the  beginning  to  the  fourteenth  verse,  introduces  a 
subject  quite  distinct  from  the  history  of  the  trum- 
pets ;  and  gives  in  a  compendious  form  the  prospect- 
ive history  of  a  much  greater  period  than  that  of  the 
sixth  and  seventh  trumpets  taken  together — a  period 
of  1260  years.  There  must  be  a  satisfactory  reason 
for  this  singular  fact.  Wisdom  is  justified  of  her  chil- 
dren ;  and  we  proceed  to  lay  the  reason  before  you. 

The  object  of  all  the  trumpets  is,  the  punishment 
and  demolition  of  the  great  Roman  empire,  the 
fourth  beast  of  Daniel's  prophecy.  This  object  had, 
in  fact,  been  effected  under  the  first  four  trumpets, 
so  far  as  it  respected  the  Latin  imperial  power,  by 
the  complete  dismemberment  of  the  western  empire ; 
and  as  it  respected  the  eastern  empire,  the  object 
had  been  fully  accomplished  in  the  judgments  of  the 
two  succeeding  trumpets.  What  then  remained  for 
the  seventh  trumpet  ?  Is  the  third  wo  without  an  ob- 
ject? Must  we  violate  the  principle  of  homogeneity 
in  the  interpretation  of  these  judgments? 

These  questions  are  of  easy  solution.  History 
sheds  a  light  upon  the  prophecy.  It  lays  the  facts 
before  us ;  and  there  is  wanting  only  judgment  to 
make  the  application.  The  Roman  empire  still  ex- 
ists, although  in  a  divided  state.  Both  in  name  and 
in  character,  it  is  found  in  Europe,  even  after  the  se- 
cond wo  destroyed  the  Greek  empire  in  1672.  The 
Emperor  of  Germany  has  long  claimed  and  received 
the  title  of  Head  of  the  holy  Roman  empire  ;  and 


TIME   OF   THE   THIRD    WO.  191 

tlie  several  governinents  within  llie  oreographical 
boundaries  of  tlie  Latin  emj^ire,  are  still  of  tlial  de- 
scription uhicli  requires  judgments,  and  merits  wo. 
Their  civil  establishments  are  without  exception  a 
complex  system  of  tyranny  and  corrupt  Christianity. 

As  the  object  of  the  trumpets  is  homogeneous,  no 
sooner  was  the  western  throne  of  the  C'esars  over- 
thrown, than  they  proceeded  in  chronological  order 
to  the  demolition  of  the  Greek  empire.  AYhile  that 
work  is  progressing,  the  heasl  reappears  in  the  west : 
his  deadly  wound  is  healed :  he  reassumes  his  warfare 
against  the  saints  with  ten  distinct  horns,  or  separate 
kingdoms:  he  strives  to  silence  in  death  all  the  nit- 
ncsses  that  give  testimony  for  the  true  religion  against 
his  corruptions :  and  long  before  the  sixth  trumpet 
had  established  the  Ottoman  power  upon  the  throne 
of  Const antine  the  Great,  the  object  of  the  third  wo 
was  presented  in  the  west  to  the  angel  who  held,  by 
the  appointment  of  God,  the  seventh  trumpet. 

It  was  necessary,  therefore,  that  the  Apocalypse 
should  interrupt,  for  a  little,  the  prophetic  narrative 
of  the  seven  trumpets,  in  order  to  introduce  to  a  iew 
that  system  wliich  arose'  during  the  execution  of 
other  judgments,  as  the  object  of  the  wo  announced 
by  the  sounding  of  the  last  trumpet. 

The  whole  of  Chap.  x.  and  xi.  1 — 13.  may  be 
considered  as  parenthetical;  and  it  would  have 
greatly  facilitated  the  exertions  of  the  reader  to  un- 
derstand the  subject,  had  this  been  attended  to  by 
those  who  divided  the  bible  into  chapters.  The  nar- 
rative of  the  trumpets  proceeds  from  the  close  of 
chap.  ix.  to  chap.  xi.  14.  the  paragraph  which  consti- 
tutes the  text  under  discussion. 


192  SEVENTH   TRUMPET. 

From  this  train  of  reasoning,  it  appears  that  the 
antichristian  Roman  empire  is  the  object  of  the  third 
wo.  That  empire  still  stands;  and  of  course  this 
judgment  is  not  past.  But  it  cannot  stand  longer 
than  1 260  years  from  the  rise  of  the  "  man  of  sin,^^ 
in  the  year  606  ;*  and  this  consideration  restricts  the 
period  of  the  third  wo  to  the  age  in  which  we  live. 

3.  There  is  conclusive  evidence,  furnished  in  the 
text  itself,  that  the  period  of  the  seventh  trumpet  is 
that  which  ushers  in  the  Millennium.  Verse  15. 
And  the  seventh  angel  sounded;  and  there  were  great 
voices  in  heaven^  sayings  The  kingdotns  of  this  world 
are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ.] 
The  church  is  thus  represented  as  rejoicing — "  Great 
voices  are  heard  in  heaven." — She  has  cause  of  joy. 
The  occasion  is  novel  indeed.  Since  the  captivity 
of  Judah,  about  588  years  before  the  Christian  era, 
until  the  present  day,  scarcely  an  instance  has  occur- 
red in  the  whole  history  of  nations,  of  a  kingdom  or 
commonwealth  regulating  their  polity  upon  pure 
scriptural  principles.  Many  nations,  it  is  true,  have 
pretended  to  be  Christian.  And  religion  has  been 
scandalized  by  their  unholy  interference.  Many 
Christians  have  also  been  deceived,  and  misled  into 
a  belief,  that  the  kingdoms  of  the  nations  were  so 
constituted  as  to  merit  their  conscientious  acquies- 
cence, and  pious  support:  but  the  Prince  of  the 
kinas  of  the  earth,  who  ffave  this  revelation  to  hig 
servant  .John,  teaches  us,  that  now  for  the  first  time, 
the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the  kino;- 
doms  of  God  and  of  Christ.  Heretofore,  they  have 
^   This  shall  be  shown  in  its  place. 


COTEMPOR.\RY    JUDGMENTS. 


193 


been  thrones  of  iniquilij,  having;  no  fdloivship  with 
God,*  characterized  as  beasts  and  hortis  of  beasts, 
both  by  Daniel  and  the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse. 
Servants,  and  admirers,  and  apologists,  and  eulogists, 
they  have  had  in  abundance,  but  there  was  not  a 
voice  in  heaven  raised  in  their  coinmendalion.  They 
were  to  be  feared,  but  not  approved,  by  the  saints 
of  the  Most  High.  Now,  indeed,  this  last  wo  pro- 
duces an  effectual  change.  The  powers  of  this  world 
})erish  in  his  wrath :  the  kingdoms  are  become  what 
ihey  ought  to  be:  and  the  voice  of  the  church  is  raised 
in  approbation  of  the  salutary  alteration.  The  seventh 
trumpet,  so  far  as  respects  its  concluding  judgments, 
synchronizes  with  the  seventh  vial. 

THIRD    AND    LAST    WO. 


Seventh  Trumpet. 

XI.  15.  And  there  were 
great  voices  in  heaven, 
saying,  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world  are  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and 
of  his  Christ. 

19.  And  there  were  light- 
nings, and  voices,  and 
thunderings,  and  an  earth- 
fpiake,  and  great  hail. 


Psn.  xciv  20. 


Seventh   Vial. 

XVI.  17.  And  the  se- 
venth angel  poured  out  his 
vial  into  the  air ;  and  there 
came  a  great  voice  out  of 
the  temple  of  heaven  from 
the  throne,  saying,  it  is 
done. 

18.  And  there  were 
voices,  and  thunders,  and 
lightnings;  and  there  was 
a  great  eartliquake. 

21.  And  tJiere  fell  upon 
men  a  great  hail  out  of 
heaven. 
A 


194  THE    SEVENTH    TRUiMPET. 

It  is  by  no  means,  however,  upon  the  mere  coinci- 
dence of  expressions,  that  we  rest  the  assertion  that 
the  last  trumpet  is  so  far  cotemporary  with  the  last 
vial ;  but  upon  the  fact  that  each  of  these  judgments 
is  represented  in  its  place  as  introducing  the  millen- 
nium. This  is  unquestionably  the  case  with  the  last  of 
the  vials,  as  shall  be  shown  in  due  time ;  and  I  have 
laid  my  reasons  before  you  for  affirming  the  same  of 
the  last  trumpet.  Respect  for  very  valuable  exposi- 
tors, from  whom  I,  in  this  interpretation,  find  cause  of 
dissent,  demands  that  I  should  take  notice  of  their 
opinions  before  I  proceed  to  the  second  branch  of 
this  discourse. 

These  opinions  are  very  numerous  and  various ; 
but  I  do  not  propose  to  enter  upon  a  discussion  of 
them  all.  1  am  supported  in  the  assertion  of  the  co- 
incidence of  the  seventh  trumpet  witli  the  seventh 
vial,  by  Lord  Napier,  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Mede, 
Brown,  AYhitaker,  Johnston,  and  many  other  respect- 
able expositors.  These  gentlemen  differ,  however, 
among  themselves,  as  to  the  period  to  which  both  the 
judgments  apply;  and  by  none  of  them  have  the 
principles  which  have  determined  my  mind,  and 
which  I  have  laid  before  you,  been  exhibited  to  view. 
Durham,  Lowman,  Priestley,  Reader,  Frazer,  bishop 
Newton,  and  Mr.  Faber,  together  with  several 
others,  have  endeavoured  to  prove  that  the  seventh 
trumpet  comprehends  all  the  vials;  and  they  too, 
differ  from  one  another  as  to  the  period  of  time  to 
w  hich  the  prophecy  has  respect.  Mr.  Lowman  fixes 
the  date  of  the  seventh  trumpet  before  the  termina- 
tion of  the  eighth  century,  and  IVIr.  Faber  places  it 


COTF.Ml'OKAUY    .HtnCMFXTS.  195 

at  the  comniencemcnl  of  the  Fiencli  revolution,  to- 
ward the  close  of  the  eighteenth. 

The  arguments  which  are  employed  to  prove  that 
the  seventli  trumpet  comprehends  all  the  seven  vials, 
are  all  capable  of  being  reduced  to  the  two  follow- 
ing— The  argument  from  analogy — and  that  from 
parallel  scriptural  expressions. 

1.  The  argument  from  analogy. 

"  As  there  are  three  great  distinct  apocalyptical 
periods,  the  seals — the  trumpets — and  the  vials,  all 
jnarked  by  the  symbolical  number  ^ere/i,  and  as  the 
trumpets  are  all  included  in  the  seventh  seal,  it  is 
inferred  that  the  vials  must  be  all  included  in  the 
seventh  trumpet." 

My  reply  to  this  argument  is,  that  the  analogy 
fails ;  because  as  the  sealed  book  must  of  necessity 
contain  under  the  seventh  seal  whatsoever  in  the 
system  of  prophecy  was  not  unfolded  in  the  preced- 
ing, so  the  events  of  the  trumpets  being  subsequent 
to  those  predicted  under  the  first  six  seals,  could  not, 
if  in  the  book  at  all,  be  made  known  until  the  se- 
venth seal  was  removed  from  the  part  of  the  book 
which  contained  them.  Therefore  we  are  told  ex- 
pressly, that  when  he  opened  the  set^enth  seal,  seven 
angels  received  the  trumpets,  viii.  1,  2. 

But  there  is  no  necessity  for  placing  any,  or  all  the 
vials,  under  any  one  trumpet  whatever.  In  the  book, 
every  event  imisl  be  ;  but  under  the  trun)pets,  there 
is  no  necessity  for  placing  any  event  not  expressly 
assigned  to  them.     There  is  besides  a  straining,  if 


196  THE  SEVENTH  TRUMPET. 

not  an  abuse,  of  symbolical  language,  in  represent- 
ing the  cases  as  parallel. 

It  is  also  to  be  observed,  that  as  the  object  of  the 
seals  was  the  Pagan  empire,  and  that  of  the  trumpets 
the  Christian  empire,  both  in  the  west  and  the  east ; 
the  trumpets  could  not  in  fact  sound  until  after  the 
sixth  seal  had  abolished  Pagan  power :  but  as  the 
object  of  the  vials  is  the  Latin  Roman  empire,  in  its 
state  of  apostacy ;  as  this  system  of  iniquity  arose 
before  the  fifth  and  sixth  vials  had  accomplished  the 
downfal  of  the  eastern  empire,  there  is  no  necessity 
for  waiting  until  that  period,  for  inflicting  some  of 
the  judgments  of  heaven  upon  the  antichristian 
system. 

2.  The  argument  from  certain  scriptural  expres- 
sions. 

There  are  to  be  found  in  chap.  x.  verses  3,  4.  com- 
pared with  verse  7.  Seven  thunders  uttered  their  voices 
— Seal  up  those  things  which  the  seven  thunders  uttered: 
hut  in  the  days  of  the  voice  of  the  seventh  angel,  when  he 
shall  begin  to  sound,  the  rnystery  of  God  shoidd  he 
finished.  And  in  chap.  xv.  i.  Seven  angels  having 
the  seven  last  plagues,  for  in  them  is  filled  up  the  wrath 
of  God. 

It  is  alleged  by  bishop  Newton,  and  in  this  he  is 
followed  by  Mr.  Faber, "  that  the  seventh  trumpet  is 
the  last  wo;  that  the  seven  vials  are  the  last  plagues; 
and  therefore  must  synchronize  with  the  last  wo ;  that 
the  seven  thunders  belong  to  the  seventh  trumpet, 
and  are  synonymous  with  the  seven  vials;  and, there- 


COTEMPORARV    .imOMENTS.  J  97 

fore,  thai  the  seven  vials  must  come  under  the  se- 
venth trumpet."  This,  if  I  understand  it,  is  the  sum 
of  the  arojument.  With  deference  to  the  eminent 
expositors  who  rest  tlieir  cause  upon  it,  however,  1 
cannot  hesitate  in  saying,  that  it  is  illogically  con- 
structed, and  altogether  inconclusive. 

1.  It  is  a  gratuitous  hypothesis,  that  the  seven 
thunders  are  the  seven  vials.  Assuredly,  there  is  no 
i?hiiilitude  between  the  symbols.  Why  should  a  clap 
of  thunder  be  said  without  proof  to  be  the  same 
with  a  cup  1  Would  it  not  be  as  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  these  seven  thunders  are  those  vvliich  were 
Jieard,  xvi.  18.  in  consequence  of  the  pouring  out. 
of  the  seventh  vial,  and  are  identified  with  the  thun- 
derings,  xi.  19.  of  the  seventh  trumpet.' 

2.  In  the  seven  vials,  is  JiUed  up  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  I  see  no  pmpriety  in  confining  them  all  to  th€> 
third  wo.  If  the  phrase,  ''Jilled  up,''  signifies,  co?ii' 
prchcnded,  it  is  impossible  to  affirm  that  the  third  wo 
exclusively  contained  divine  wrath.  Every  wo,, 
every  trumpet,  had  its  share.  But  if  the  phrase  sig- 
nifies completed,  then  it  is  no  more  limited,  in  correct 
application  to  the  last  trumpet,  than  to  the  last  vial. 
The  criticism  which  restricts  its  application  to  the 
fast  in  one  instance,  will  restrict  it  to  the  last  in  the 
other. 

3.  There  is  no  propriety  in  the  remark,  that  if  the 
last  plagues  do  not  coincide  with  the  last  wo,  then 
there  are  last,  and  more  last,  &c.  which  is  absurd. 


198  THE    SEVENTH    TRUMPET. 

This  is  trifling  with  sacred  things.  It  is  sporting 
with  the  words  of  truth.  Follow  up  the  criticism, 
and  see  how  it  will  apply.  There  are  seven  last 
plagues  inflicted  in  regular  succession.  Both  bishop 
Newton  and  Mr.  Faber  acknowledge  this.  There 
is,  therefore,  according  to  the  text,  the  first  last 
plague,  and  the  secondln^i  plague,  and  the  third  last 
plague,  &c.  &c. 

It  is  obvious  to  every  one,  that  the  words,  "  last 
jjlagues,^'  and  "  is  filled  up  the  iirath  of  God,''  are 
not  to  be  taken  absolutely,  but  relatively.  They 
cannot  be  true  absolutely,  because  the  judgments  to 
which  they  apply  are  not,  in  fact,  the  last  or  the  only 
judgments.  There  are  subsequent  judgments  un- 
doubtedly inflicted  on  Gog  and  Magog;  and  there 
are  judgments  inflicted  subsequent  to  these,  and  to 
all  that  can  be  inflicted  in  this  world.  There  is  a 
DAY  OF  JUDGMENT,  whcu  lime  itsclf  is  come  to  an 
end,  and  there  is  wrath  in  hell.  Mr.  Faber  ought 
therefore  to  have  spared  his  criticism  on  Mr.  Whita- 
ker.  It  is  unworthy  of  a  grave  expositor.*  Great 
men  are  not  always  wise. 

The  expressions  in  question  are  undoubtedly  to 
be  understood  relatively :  and  they  have  relation  to 
the  antichristian  apostacy.  The  vials  are  the  plagues 
inflicted  upon  this  last  form  of  the  great  fourth  pro- 
phetical beast.  In  them  is  filled  up  the  wrath  of  God, 
toward  the  antichristian  usurpation. 

The  error  of  commentators  upon  this  subject,  con- 
sists in  their  fondness  to  identify  things  which  are  in- 
tended in  prophecy  to  be  kept  distinct.     The  object 

■^  Vol.  II.  p.  317.    Lond.  1800. 


COTEMPORARY    JUDGMENTS,  199 

of  all  the  trumpets  is  one,  and  is  different  from  the 
object  of  the  vials;  and  even  although  in  some  certain 
instances,  a  trumpet  and  a  vial  should  designate 
judgments  upon  one  and  the  same  system,  it  is  on 
different  accounts.  The  object  of  the  trumpets  is 
the  Roman  empire,  professing  a  political  species  of 
Christianity:  and  tlicy  affect  this  empire  bolh  in  its 
Latin  and  Greek  dominions.  The  object  of  all  the 
vials  is  also  one — the  antichristian  system  in  the 
Latin  Roman  empire.  It  is  true,  the  sixth  and  se- 
venth vials,  and  the  last  trumpet  meet,  in  judging 
and  punishing  the  same  great  complex  system  of 
iniquity,  preparatory  to  the  millennium :  but  it  is 
because  those  two  distinct  objects  are  in  fact  in  this 
instance  combined  in  the  abominable  and  complex 
establishments  which  are  div  inely  appointed  to  de- 
struction. We  shall  hereafter  show  more  at  large 
that  this  destruction  comes  upon  these  establishments 
in  the  course  of  half  a  century  from  the  present 
time.* 


*  We  are  now  entered  upon  the  period  of  the  seventh  trumpet. 
Mr.  Faber  appears  very  nearly  correct  in  his  chronological  state- 
ment of  this  third  and  last  wo.  It  in  fact  originated  in  the  com- 
motions of  the  French  revolution;  and  Napolean  Buonaparte  is 
the  principal  agent  of  Providence  hitherto  employed  in  this  work 
of  judgment.  In  this  I  entirely  agree  with  that  ex|)ositor,  however 
far  he  has  mistaken  (he  time  of  tiie  vials.  "  It  has  been  our  lot," 
says  he,  vol.  ii.  p.  313,  "  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  third  wo,  and  to 
behold  in  the  French  revolution  the  dreadful  scenes  of  the  harvest," 
p.  317.  We  have  likewise  seen,  that  the  third  wo  came  quickly  in 
the  year  1792,  when  the  reign  of  Gallic  liberty  and  equality  com- 
menced. Then  it  was  that  the  voice  of  the  seventh  angel,  or  tb<* 
third  wo  angel,  began  to  be  hranl." 


200  THE  SEVENTH  TRUMPET. 

II.  Wc  shall  explain  the  predictions  of  the  seventh 
trumpet. 

These  predictions  respect  the  grand  design  of  the 
wo — Xh^joy  which  the  accomplishment  of  that  design 
produces — and  i\\e  means  employed  in  bringing  it  to 
pass. 

1.  The  great  end  accomplished  is,  the  general  re- 
formation of  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Verse  15.  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  arc  become 
the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ  j  and  he 
shcdl  reign  for  ever  and  ever.']  The  existing  sove- 
reignties of  nations  constitute  the  subject  of  this 
prediction.  Tlie  kingdoms  of  this  world,  are  the  po- 
litical constitutions  which  are  on  eaith,  and  which 
have  derived  their  form  and  character  from  the  men 
of  the  world:  and  particularly  the  several  kingdoms 
which  are  found  within  the  precincts  of  the  old  Ro- 
man empire.  The  reformation  which  they  undergo 
changes  effectually  their  character.  They  become 
the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord.  They  were,  heretofore, 
of  this  world,  of  the  earth,  earthy :  but  now,  they  are 
of  the  Lord.  They  were  always  in  fact,  though  un- 
knowingly and  unwillingly,  under  the  power  of  Je- 
hovah, and  made  subservient  to  Jesus  Christ:  but 
they  are  now  professedly  and  with  understanding 
subject  to  the  law  of  God,  and  the  revelation  of  Je- 
sus Christ.  True  religion  now  comes  to  be  formally 
avowed  by  them  in  their  political  capacity.  There 
were  Christians  residing  in  these  nations  before  this 


KEFOUMVTION    EFFECTED.  201 

^  time :  the  nations  were  actually  called  Christian  na- 
tions: some  really  supposed  that  they  were  Christian 
states:  mciny  prctcndrd  Ihat  they  were  so:  buttkuiiig 
all  this  time,  tliey  have  been  in  the  estimation  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  only  "  kingdoms  of  this  world." 
Now  however  they  understand,  they  profess,  and  they 
support,  not  a  state  religion,  nor  a  worldly  sanctuary, 
but  the  pure  religion  of  tlie  Bible,  in  a  consistent 
manner. 

•  The  system  of  revealed  truth  for  the  first  time 
influences  their  whole  social  relations,  and  directs 
their  polity :  and  they  publicly  proclaim  their  sub- 
mission to  Messiah.  Tiiey  are  become  the  kingdoms 
of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ.  They  acknowledge 
him  as  their  Governor;  and  he  shall  reign  over  them 
continually.  Wonderful,  and  unto  many,  unexpect- 
ed change!  But  the  power  of  our  Redeemer  over 
the  nations  shall  never  afterwards  be  called  in  ques- 
tion by  his  disciples.  He  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever. 
1  conclude  this  part  of  my  exposition  in  the  words 
of  Dr.  Johnston.  "  This  trumpet  which  brings  the 
last  wo  upon  the  Roman  empire,  (the  inhabiters  of 
the  earth,)  brings  praise  and  triumph  to  heaven,  the 
church  of  Christ.  *  For  there  were  great  voices  in 
heaven,  saying,  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  be- 
come the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ, 
and  he  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever.'  Then  Chris- 
tians in  the  church  of  Christ  shall  lift  up  their  voices 
aloud,  and  in  triumph  proclaim  the  purity,  prosperi- 
ty, and  extent  of  Christ's  spiritual  kingdom,  in  sucli 
a  manner  that  no  part  of  the  world  shall  be  ignorant 
©f  the  proflamntion,  or  willing  and  able  to  gainsay 
2  B 


202  THE  SEVENTH  TRUMrET. 

it.  Then  all  the  kingdoms  which  Daniel  foretold 
should  arise  and  fall  in  the  world  before  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  should  extend  over  the  whole  world,  shall 
have  fallen,  and  that  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of 
his  Christ,  which  is  not  meat  and  drink,  but  truth, 
and  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  shall  extend  over  the  whole  earth.  Then  all 
the  jjarticular  kingdoms  and  churches  which  shall  be 
erected  in  the  world,  for  the  civil  and  religions  govern- 
ment of  men  in  society,  shall  he  formed  on  these  prin- 
ciples of  truth,  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy,  which 
form  the  constitution  of  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and 
of  his  Christ.  From  that  time  forth,  so  long  as  this 
world  stan4s,  Christ's  chiuxh  shall  reign  in  triumph ; 
no  kingdom  shall  again  rise  up  to  persecute  and  op- 
press it  with  success,  as  Rome,  Heathen  and  Papal, 
had  done  before  that  period,  and  its  purity  and  tri- 
umph shall  be  for  ever  and  ever  in  the  heavenly 
world." 

2.  The  seventh  trumpet  predicts  great  joy,  for  the 
general  reformation  consec[uent  upon  the  third  wo. 

Verses  16,  17.  And  the  four  and  twenty  elders, 
which  sat  before  God  on  their  seats,  fell  upon  their 
faces  and  worshipped  God,  saying.  We  give  thee  thanks, 
O  Lord  God  Almighty,  ivhich  art,  and  wast,  and  art 
to  come;  because  thou  hast  taken  to  thee  thy  great 
power,  and  hast  reigned.'] 

They  who  returned  thanks  in  this  solemn  manner 
to  the  Almighty,  and  so  expressed  their  joy  at  the 


JOY    FOR   THE    REFORIMATTOIV.  203 

remarkable  event  now  come  to  pass,  are  the  collective 
body  of  faithful  men  in  the  eliurcli  of  Christ — "  tlie 
four  and  twenty  elders."*  These  fell  upon  their 
faces  before  the  throne  of  God ;  and  in  liumble  ac- 
knowledgment of  his  sparing  mercy  to  themselves, 
as  well  as  in  grateful  adoration  of  his  justice  in  the 
punishmen*  of  his  and  their  enemies,  they  worship 
him  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

The  terrible  scenes  of  the  third  ivo,  with  all  the 
barbarities  which  have  been  consequent  upon  the 
French  Revolution,  are  by  no  means  in  themselves 
cause  of  joy  and  thanksgiving.  When  therefore 
the  saints  are  said  to  rejoice  in  them,  it  is  because 
these  judgments  are  in  the  providence  of  God  intro- 
ductory to  the  millennium.  It  is  in  the  birth  of  the 
child,  and  not  in  the  pangs  of  travail,  that  the  pa- 
rents and  the  friends  rejoice.  It  is  on  account  of 
their  effects  that  the  saints  are  required  to  rejoice  in 
the  judgments  of  God  upon  the  nations  of  the  earth ; 
and  therefore  do  they  rejoice.  Psa.  xcvii.  8.  Zion 
heard,  and  was  glad ;  and  the  daughters  of  Judah 
rejoiced,  because  of  thy  judgments,  O  Lord.  To 
those  pious  men  who  do  not  sutler  themselves  by  in- 
terest, by  prejudice,  or  by  partialities,  to  become 
blind  to  the  immoral  character  of  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world,  it  is  certainly  gratifying  to  witness  the 
period  of  their  overthrow ;  to  live  to  see,  in  these 
overturnings,  the  answer  of  many  piayers ;  and  to 
have  laid  before  then-  eyes,  those  miracles  which  con- 
firm their  faith  in  the  sacred  predictions,  and  in  the 

*  This  symbolical  expression  has  been  heretofore  explained. 
The  reader  is  referred  to  page  58. 


204  THE  SEVENTH  TRUMPET. 

infiriite  perfections  of  their  God  :  for  in  the  light  of 
miracles  the  fulfihuent  of  prophecy  ought  uniformly 
to  be  contemplated.  It  is  with  highecstacy  that  this 
very  period  of  the  world  v»ill,  a  few  years  hence,  be 
celebrated  according  to  the  text  now  under  discus- 
sion. "We  give  thee  thanks,  O  Lord  God  Almigh- 
ty ;  because  Ulou  hast  taken  to  thee  thy  great  potver, 
and  hast  reigned." 

"  This  intei-position,"  said  Dr.  Johnston,  "  This  in- 
terposition of  God  in  establishing  Christ's  kingdom 
over  the  whole  world  is  called  his  great  power y  that  is, 
in  the  symbolical  language,  the  exertions  of  his  power 
in  favour  of  the  church  of  Christ,  of  which  all  his 
former  exertions  were  only  types.  However  great, 
gracious,  and  many,  have  been  the  exertions  of  divine 
power  in  favour  of  the  church  of  Christ,  all  these 
shall  not  only  be  greatly  exceeded  by  that  one  which 
shall  overthrow  Antichrist,  bind  Satan,  and  establish 
and  perpetuate  the  reign  of  truth,  righteousness, 
peace,  and  joy,  over  the  whole  earth,  but  by  that  one, 
their  true  intention,  and  the  hand  that  performed 
them,  shall  be  rendered  much  more  visible  than  they 
were  before  that  period.  Then  the  kingdom  of  God 
shall  come,  and  it  shall  then  be  evident  that  his  is  the 
power  which  hath  brought  about  that  period,  and  that 
the  whole  shall  illuslriously  display  his  glory." 

3.  The  means  employed  in  executing  the  wo,  and 
in  bringing  about  that  great  and  desirable  event,  the 
millennium,  are  not  very  particularly  described. 
Hurried  on,  to  the  most  pleasant  part  of  the  scenery 
exposed  to  view^  after  the  sounding  of  the  seventh 


ITS   KXTKM'.  20:'} 

trumpet,  it  is  only  in  the  concliKling  sentence  that 
the  apostle  takes  notice  of  the  judgments.  These 
same  events  too,  were  afterwards  to  be  introduced 
to  view  in  another  part  of  the  proj)hetical  history, 
of  the  same  period ;  and  in  such  connexion  as  re- 
quires more  attention  to  the  instruments  employed 
in  executing  the  nrath  of  God. 

Moreover,  the  seventh  trumpet,  tliough,  in  the  first 
instance,  announcing  wo  to  the  inhabitcrs  of  the  si/m- 
hoUcal  earth,  and  bringing  down  upon  them  snift  de- 
struction, has  a  reference  to  tlie  subsequent  changes 
which  take  place  in  the  moral  world,  until  the  day 
of  final  retribution  ;  and,  on  that  account,  we  cannot 
describe  the  events  of  this  trumpet  as  comprehended 
in  the  second  grand  period,  designated  the  period  of 
THE  TRUMPETS.  The  period  of  the  seals  embraces 
only  the  first  six ;  for  the  seventh  seal  comprehends 
all  tune :  and  the  period  of  the  trumpets  for  the 
--tme  reason  comprehends  only  the  first  six  trumpets.* 

I  quote  an  excellent  paragraph  from  bisbop  Newton,  to  show, 
that  I  am  not  singular  in  this  sentiment.  "  At  the  sounding  of  the 
seventh  trumpet,  (ver.  13.)  the  tkird  wo  commenceth,  which  ia 
rather  implied  than  expressed,  as  it  will  be  described -more  fully 
nereafter.  The  third  no  brought  an  the  inhabitcrs  of  the  earth  is  the 
ruin  and  downfal  of  the  antichristian  kingdom:  and  then,  and  not 
till  then,  according  to  the  heavenly  chorus,  the  kin^^dotns  of  thin 
world  mill  become  the  kin<rdo)ns  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ,  andhe 
shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever.  St.  John  is  rapt  and  hurried  away  as 
it  were  to  a  view  of  the  happy  millennium,  without  considering  the 
steps  preceding  and  conducting  to  it.  At  the  same  time  the  four 
Olid  twenty  elders,  or  the  ministers  *  of  the  chuftb,  (ver.  16,  17,  18.) 
are  represented  as  praising  and  glorifying  God  for  manifesting  bis 

•  He  ought  to  have  said  members. 


206  THE  SEVENTH  TRUMPET. 

Verse  18.  And  the  nations  were  angry ,  and  thij 
ivrath  is  come^  and  the  time  of  the  dead  that  they  should 
be  judged,  and  that  thou  shouldest  give  reivai'd  to  thy 
servants  the  prophets,  and  to  the  saints,  and  to  them  that 
fear  thy  name,  small  and  great ;  and  shouldest  destroy 
them  which  destroy  the  earth.] 

This  is  a  part  of  the  eucharistic  hymn  of  the  twen- 
ty-four elders,  who  represent  the  whole  church  of 
God.  Considering  the  power  of  God  displayed  in 
executing  judgments  on  the  antichristian  beast,  and 
in  the  establishment  of  the  millennium,  they  look  for- 
ward through  succeeding  ages  to  that  day  which  is 
emphatically  the  day  of  the  Lord — the  final  judg- 
ment.   Having  celebrated,  verse  15 — 17.  the  period 


power  and  kingdom  more  than  he  had  done  before ;  and  give  like- 
wise an  intimation  of  some  succeeding  events,  as  the  anger  of  the 
nations,  Gog  and  Magog,  (xx.  8.)  and  the  wrath  of  God,  displayed 
in  their  destruction,  (xx.  9.)  and  the  judging  of  the  dead,  or  the 
general  judgment,  (xx.  12.)  and  the  rewarding  oj  all  the  good,  smalt 
and  great,  as  well  as  the  punishing  of  the  wicked.  Here  we  have 
only  a  summary  account  of  the  circumstances  and  occurrences  of  the 
seventh  trumpet,  but  the  particulars  will  be  dilated  and  enlarged 
upon  hereafter.  • 

"  And  thus  are  we  arrived  at  the  consummation  of  all  things, 
through  a  series  of  prophecies  extending  from  the  apostle"'s  days 
to  the  end  of  the  world.  It  is  this  series  which  has  been  our  clue 
to  conduct  us  in  our  interpretation  of  these  prophecies :  and  though 
some  of  them  may  be  dark  and  obscure,  considered  in  themselves, 
yet  they  receive  light  and  illustration  from  others  preceding  and 
following.  All  together  they  are  as  it  were  a  chain  of  prophecies, 
whereof  one  link  depends  on,  and  supports  another.  If  any  parts 
remain  yet  obscure  and  unsatisfactory,  they  may  perhaps  be  cleared 
up  by  what  the  apostle  himself  hath  added  by  way  of  explanation." 


ITS    EXTENT.  207 

of  the  millennimi),  Period  IV.*  of  our  general  ar- 
rangement;  they  glance  at  that  of  Gog  and  Magog, 
Period  V.  in  the  words,  "  Ihe  nations  were  angry  :'^ 
they  hasten  on  to  Period  VI.  "/Ac  lime  of  the  dead, 
when  they  should  be  judged:'^  and  they  speak  of  Pe- 
riod VII.  when  all  accounts  being  settled,  men  of 
every  description  shall  eternally  reap  the  fruit  of 
their  doings.  Then  the  righteous  shall  be  happy — 
"  that  thou  shouldest  give  reward  to  thy  servants  the 
prophets,  and  to  the  saints,  and  them  that  fear  thy 
name  small  and  great.''  Then  also  shall  the  wicked, 
who  by  their  sins  are  the  destroyers  of  themselves, 
and  of  the  countries  in  which  they  dwell,  suffer  eter- 
nal death — "  destroy  them  which  destroy  the  earth."" 

It  is  only  in  the  19th  verse,  the  concluding  sen- 
tence under  this  trumpet,  that  the  apostle  introduces 
the  subject  of  wo.  As  soon  as  the  trumpet  sounded, 
he  heard  the  voices  of  the  heavenly  inhabitants,  and 
he  puts  upon  record  their  declarations,  before  he  de- 
scribes the  representations  which  were  made  to  him, 
of  the  judgments  which  preceded  the  triumphs. 

The  virion,  however,  he  must  give.  Punishment 
must  be  inflicted  in  its  time.  It  is  painful,  but  it  is 
necessary.  God  is  just ;  and  will  by  no  means  clear 
the  guilty. 


&' 


Verse  19.  And  the  temple  of  God  was  opened  in 
heaven,  and  there  was  seen  in  his  temple  the  ark  of  his 
testament :  and  there  were  lightnings,  and  voices,  and 
ihunderings,  and  an  earthquake,  and  great  hail.] 
Heaven  is  the  symbol  for  the  church  of  God,  which 

*  See  Pages  46,  47. 


208  THE    SEVENTH    TRUMPET. 

is  frequently  expressly  called  the  kingdom  of  hea 
Ten,  to  denote  both  the  origin  and  the  end  of  the 
dispensation  of  the  grace  of  God  to  men.     In  the 
visible  church,  at  this  epoch,  the  temple  of  God  was 
opened  so  as  to  reveal  the  ark  of  the  testament. 

"  Templum,  («  tuendOi  Yarr.  L.  L.  6,  2.)  a  temple, 
a  space  in  the  heavens,  for  taking  omens  from  the 
flight  of  birds,  and  thence  denotes  the  place  where 
Ihe  augur  took  his  seat  to  make  his  observations."* 
The  Latin  word  became  of  course  employed  to  de- 
signate a  place  dedicated  to  religious  worship — A 
sanctuary;  and  our  English  word  temple  is  of  the  same 
import.  It  is  often  used  in  scripture  as  synonymous 
with  the  house  of  God,  the  tabernacle  of  the  Lord, 
the  palace  of  the  Most  High.  The  Hebrews,  before 
the  magnificent  edifice  was  built  upon  Mount  Zion 
by  Solomon,  did  not  hesitate  to  call  theb;  principal 
place  of  Avorship,  the  temple  ;\  and  afterwards  also, 
they  referred  to  this  same  splendid  building,  by  the 
name  of  tahernacle.X  The  opening  of  the  temple  in 
heaven,  accordingly  signifies,  that  the  means  of  divine 
knowledge  had  become  abundant  in  the  church  of 
Christ. 

There  was  seen  in  his  temple  the  ark  of  his  testament. 
God's  gracious  covenant  with  man,  in  the  Mediator, 
Jesus  Christ,  was  set  forth  by  the  ark  which  was  con- 
structed by  Moses,  and  laid  up  in  the  sanctuary. 
This  p"iN  or  Coffer,  made  of  Shittim  wood,  (proba- 
bly the  Arabian  Acacia)  covered  w  ith  plates  of  gold, 
contained  the  two  tables  of  the  decalogue,  which 

■   A-dnms's  Dictionary,     fl  Sam.  i.  9.  and  iii.  3.     Psa.  xviii.  6. 
^  Jer.  X.  20.     Hos.  xii.  9. 


THE   TExMPLE    OPENED.  209 


were  miraculously  cnoraven  on  Mount  Sinai.     It 
was  upon  the  cover  of  this  ark,  called  the  mercy-scat, 
iA^.,^..v,  in  Greek,  and  n-^3D   in  Hebrew,  that   the 
high  priest  sprinTcled  llie  blood  of  the  sacrifice  upon 
the  oieat  dav  of  atonement.     It  was  overspread  by 
Ihe  c'herubim,  and  upon  it  rested  the  Shekinah,  the. 
^  olory  of  the  Lord,  from  which  .Tehovah  communed 
with' his  people  Israel.     The  ark' accordingly  repre- 
sented the  essential  properties  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion—the  mediation  of  .Tesus  Christ;  atonement  for 
4n  by  the  sacrifice  he  offered;  and  communion  with 
God  in  srace  and  glory,  through  him  who  is  the  end 
of  the  Taw  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  be- 
lie veth. 

The  sacred  ark  was  concealed  in  the  most  holy 
,-LvcE,  in  the  temple,  from  the  observation  of  all 
except  the  high  priest  on  the  day  of  atonement.  In 
allusion  to  this  fact;  and,  in  order  to  indicate  a  pe- 
riod of  increasing  christian  knowledge,  it  is  said,  the 
temple  was  opened,  and  the  ark  of  God  revealed. 

Cotcmporaneously  with  the  terrible  wo  of  the  se- 
venth trumpet,  extraordinary  efforts  are  successfully 
made  to  reader  the  means  of  christian  knowledge  more, 
abundant  throughout  the  earth. 

Now  i3  the  time  of  these  wonders.  The  seed  ol 
Tacob  are  already  scattered  among  the  nations,  as  dew 
fallen  from  the  vast  expanse  of  heaven,  over  all 
lands:  the  oracles  of  the  living  God,  rendered  into 
the  several  languages  of  the  world,  are  carried  over 
it^  territories,  as  the  sun  going  forth  from  his  taber- 
nacle makes  his  circuit  unto  the  ends  of  heaven:  the 
lierald  already  stands  on  the  border  of  every  hostile 
2  C 


210  THE   SEVENTH   TRUMPET. 

empire,  proclaiming  in  the  name  of  the  great  God^ 
peace  upon  earth,  and  good  will  toward  men. 

At  the  same  time,  the  political  systems,  including 
(hose  religions  which  are  no  more  than  departments 
of  state  polity,  are  in  awful  commotion.  While  the 
temple  was  opened,  and  the  covenant  revealed,  there 
were  lightnings,  and  voices^  and  thimdcrings,  and  an 
earthquake,  and  great  hail. 

These  words  summarily  comprehend  all  the 
judgments  of  the  third  wo.  They  do  not,  it  is  true, 
describe  minutely,  or  in  detail,  the  character  of  the 
Revolution,  or  of  the  agents  employed  in  bringing 
it  to  pass:  and  it  may  be  inferred  from  this  that  there 
is  information  elsewhere  given  to  supply  the  defi- 
ciency. All  that  was  necessary,  under  the  seventh 
trumpet  itself,  to  say  upon  the  subject  is,  that  ade- 
quate punishment  shall  be  injflicted;  the  beast  of 
Rome  entirely  destroyed ;  and,  upon  the  overthrow 
of  the  fourth  tyrannical  empire,  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world  shall  be  new  modelled,  and  settled  upon 
moral  principles,  and  have  their  social  order  regu- 
lated by  the  statutes  of  the  Christian  religion.  As 
means  have  been  amply  furnished  for  ascertaining 
the  time  of  the  wo,  and  the  same  period  of  time  is 
elsewhere  more  particularly  described,  we  must  rest 
satisfied,  although,  in  this  text,  our  curiosity  is  not 
gratified  to  its  full  extent. 

The  very  copious  details  furnished  in  the  history 
»f  the  concluding  vials  will  in  due  time  make  up  for 
the  scantiness  of  the  materials  apparent  in  the  pre- 
sent instance  :  and  besides  this  information,  detailed 
in  the  three  chapters  which  follow  the  account  of  the 


SYNCHRONISMS.  311 

seven  vial;:,  there  is  a  variety  of  otlier  means,  pro- 
vided in  the  Apocalypse,  for  developing  the  events 
of  the  third  wo. 

]\lr.  Faber,  however  far  he  may  have  erred  in  the 
view  wliich  he  has  given  of  the  seven  vials,  judged 
correctly,  in  introducing  under  the  .seventh  trumpet 
the  harvest  and  the  vintage  of  God's  wrath,  as  de- 
scribed at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  chapter  * 
These  two  distinct  parts  of  the  judgment  which  shal) 
destroy  antichrist,  undoubtedly  belong  to  the  third 
wo.  And  however  fancifully  the  seven  vials  have 
been  divided  by  the  expositor  last  mentioned,  be- 
tween the  symbolical  harvest  and  vintagey  (a  parcel- 
lino-  for  which  he  has  given  no  reason,  no  sufficient 
warrant)  the  historical  events  are,  with  much  dis- 
cernment, applied  to  that  era  of  the  judgment,  the 
period  of  the  harvest,  which  alone  as  yet,  is  the  sub- 
ject of  history.  The  vintage,  he  justly  remarks,  is 
not  yet  arrived ;  and  with  equal  propriety,  he  repre- 
sents it  as  synchronizing  with  the  seventh  vial .  not 
indeed  that  the  one  includes  the  other ;  but  each  is 
a  distinct  account  of  judgments  inflicted  by  the  God 
of  heaven,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  for  the  purpose 
of  affecting,  though  upon  distinct  principles,  the  very 
same  object. 

In  order  to  finish  this  part  of  the  discourse,  al- 
ready perhaps  too  much  prolonged,  we  shall  give  the 
history  of  the  events  referred  to  in  the  third  wo. 

*  I  shall  show  iu  its  proper  place,  Uiatchap.  xi.  1—13.  and  chap- 
ters xii.  xiii.  xiv.  furnish  each  of  them  an  account  of  the  remark- 
able 12ti0  years,  ami  so  iq  parf  synchronir,*^  \vith  this  peripd. 


212  THE  SEVENTH  TRUMPET. 

The  revival  of  the  imperial  power  in  the  wcsly 
while  it  was  decaying  in  the  east^  was  necessary  in 
order  that  the  seventh  trumpet  should  liave  an  ob- 
ject upon  which  its  judgments  might  be  inflicted.  I 
quote  from  Mr.  Gibbon  evidence  of  the  fact.  "  The 
mutual  obligations  of  the  popes  and  the  Carlovingian 
family,  form  the  important  link  of  ancient  and  mo- 
dern, of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  history.  The  royal 
unction  of  the  kings  of  Israel  was  dexterously  ap- 
plied :  the  successor  of  St.  Peter  assumed  the  cha- 
racter of  a  divine  ambassador :  a  German  chieftain 
was  tra,nsformed  into  the  Lord's  anointed ;  a«tl  this 
Jewish  rite  has  been  diffused  and  maintained  by  the 
superstition  and  vanity  of  modern  Europe. 

"  The  leaders  of  a  powerful  nation  would  have  dis- 
dained a  servile  title  and  subordinate  office,  but  the 
reign  of  the  Greek  emperors  rvas  suspended;  and  in 
the  vacancy  of  the  empire,  they  derived  a  more 
glorious  commission  from  the  pope  and  the  republic. 
Tiie  power  and  policy  of  Charlemagne  annihilated 
an  enemy,  and  imposed  a  master."=^' 

"  The  title  of  patrician  was  below  the  merits  and 
greatness  of  Charlemagne ;  and  it  was  only  by  re- 
viving the  western  empire  that  he  could  secure 
the  establishment.  By  this  decisive  measure  they 
would  finally  eradicate  the  claims  of  the  Greeks ; 
from  the  debasement  of  a  provincial  town  the  ma- 
jesty of  Rome  would  be  restored:  and  the  Latin 
Christians  nmdd  he  united  under  a  supreme  head  in 
Iktir  ancient  Metropolis. 

'   Hist.  Dec.  Vol.  VL  p.  170—179. 


HISTORY   OF    THIRD   WO.  213 

^'  On  the'festival  of  Christinas,  the  la^t  year  of  the 
eighth  century.  Cliarleniagne  a])peared  in  the 
cliurch  of  8t.  Peter;  and  to  gratify  the  vanity  of 
Rome,  he  had  exchanged  tlie  simple  chess  of  his  coun- 
try for  the  habit  of  a  patrician.  After  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  holy  mysteries,  Leo  suddenly  placed  a 
crown  on  his  head,  and  the  dome  resounded  with  the 
acclamations  of  the  people,  long  life  and  victory  to 
C'harles,  the  most  pious  Augustus,  crowned  by  God 
the  great  and  pacific  emperor  of  the  Romans.  With- 
out injustice  to  his  fame,"  adds  the  historian,  "  1  may 
discern  some  blemishes  in  the  sanctity  and  greatness 

of  THE    RESTORER    OF    THE   WESTERN    EMPIRE."* 

As  to  the  extent  of  this  empire,  I  quote  from  the 
>ame  historian  what  is  amply  supported  by  the  testi- 
mony of  other  writers.  "  It  extended  between  east 
and  west  from  the  Ebro  to  the  Elbe  or  Vistula ;  be- 
tween the  north  and  south  from  flie  Dutchy  of  Ee- 
neventum  to  the  river  Eyder,  the  perpetual  bounda- 
ry of  Germany  and  Denmark.  The  islands  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  were  disputed  by  a  crowd  of 
princes  of  Saxon  or  Scottish  origin ;  and,  after  the 
loss  of  Spain,  the  Christian  and  Gothic  kingdom  '»f 
Alphonso  the  Chaste,  was  confined  to  the  narrow 
range  of  the  Asturian  mountains.  These  petty  so- 
vereigns revered  the  power  or  virtue  of  the  Carlo- 
vingian  monarch,  implored  the  honour  and  support 
of  his  alliance,  and  styled  him  their  common  parent, 
Ihe  sole  and  supreme  emperor  of  the  wesl^ 

The  transfer  of  the  imperial  throne  from  Fra?]<;e 
to  Germany  was  effected  in  the  reign  of  Otiio,  ai 

•   Hist.  Dec.  Vol.  VI.  p.  190—193. 


214  THE   SEVENTH   TRKMPEi% 

called  the  Great,  Anno  962.  "  He,"  says  Mr.  GibboUj 
"was  the  conqueror  and  apostle  of  the  Slavic  nations 
of  the  Elbe  and  the  Oder ;  the  marches  of  Branden- 
berg  and  Sleswick  were  fortified  with  German  colo- 
nies :  and  the  king  of  Denmark,  the  dukes  of  Poland 
and  Bohemia,  confessed  themselves  his  tributary  vas- 
sals. At  the  head  of  a  victorious  army,  he  passed 
the  Alps,  subdued  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  delivered 
the  pope,  and  for  ever  fixed  the  imperial  crown  in 
the  name  and  nation  of  Germany."* 

"  The  empire  of  Charlemagne  and  Otho  was  dis- 
tributed among  the  Dukes  of  the  nations  or  provinces, 
the  Counts  of  the  smaller  districts,  and  the  War- 
graves  of  the  marches  or  frontiers,  who  all  united  the 
civil  and  military  authority  as  it  had  been  delegated 
to  the  lieutenants  of  the  first  Cesars.  The  golden 
bull  which  fixes  the  Germanic  constitution,  is  pro- 
mulgated in  the  style  of  a  sovereign  and  legislator. 
An  hundred  princes  bowed  before  his  throne,  and 
exalted  their  own  dignity  by  the  voluntary  honours 
which  they  yielded  to  their  chief.  Nor  was  the  su- 
premacy of  the  emperor  confined  to  Germany  alone  : 
the  hereditary  monarchs  of  Europe  confessed  the 
pre-eminence  of  his  rank  and  dignity :  he  was  the 
first  of  the  Christian  princes,  the  temporal  head  of 

THE    GREAT   REPUBLIC    OF    THE   WEST.       TllC    Oraclc  of 

the  civil  law,  the  learned  Bartolus,  was  a  pensioner 
of  Charles  the  fourth,  (Century  xiv.)  and  his  school 
resounded  with  the  doctrine,  that  the  Roman  empe- 
ror was  the  rightful  sovereign  of  the  earth,  from  the 
rising  to  the  setting  sun.     The  contrary  opinion  waj 

*  Hist.  Dec.  Vol.  VI.  p.  199. 


atSTORT  OF   THIRD  VTO.  215 

condemned,  not  as  an  error,  but  as  a  heresy,  since 
even  the  gospel  had  pronounced,  and  there  went  forth 
a  decree  from  Cesar  Augustus  that  all  the  world  should 
he  tavedr* 

By  these  passages,  from  the  pen  of  a  celebrated 
w  riter,  who  had  not  the  most  remote  idea  of  accommo- 
dating liistory  to  the  scripture  prophecy,  it  is  evident, 
that  the  western  empire  was  indeed  restored  and  con- 
tinued in  the  persons  of  Charlemagne  and  Otho,  and 
the  successors  of  Otho  on  the  throne  of  Germany, 
down  even  to  our  own  time.  Here  then,  we  find  the 
great  Romati  beast  revived  in  the  west,  while  under  the 
first  and  second  wo  he  was  expiring  in  the  east ;  and 
this  last  supreme  head  of  the  empire  becomes  of 
course  the  object  of  the  third  wo.  It  is  to  be  de- 
stroyed in  order  that  the  nations  may  undergo  a 
thorough  reformation.  An  entire  revolution  is  of 
course  to  take  place  throughout  all  the  kingdoms 
erected  within  the  bounds  of  the  Roman  empire ; 
and  the  emperor  of  Germany  is  to  be  remarkably 
distinguished  by  the  wo  inflicted  upon  him  in  the 
overthrow  of  his  power. 

In  this  view  of  the  Germanic  empire  1  am  not 
alone.  Mr.  Faber  also  remarked,  that  "  the  empe- 
ror has  always  claimed,  and  has  always  been  allowed, 
precedence  over  every  one  of  the  ten  horns :  and  as 
such  he  has  invariably  been  considered  as  the  head 
of  the  Great  European  comvwjiwealth."  He  also  re- 
fers to  Sir  George  iM'Kenzie  as  saying,  "amongst 
kings,  the  emperor  is  allowed  the  first  place  by  the 
famous  ceremonial  of  Rome,  as  succeeding  to  the 

■^  Hist.  De«.  VoK  VI.  p.  214—219. 


216  THE    SEVENTH   TRUMPET. 

Roman  emperors — and  therefore  the  German  and 
Italian  lawyers,  who  are  subject  to  the  empife,  have 
with  much  flattery  asserted,  that  the  emperor  is  the 
Vicar  of  God  in  temporals,  and  that  jurisdictions  arc 
derived  from  him,  as  from  the  fountain,  calling  him 
dominum  el  caput  totius  orhis.'^* 

Such  was  the  political  condition  of  Europe  when 
the  seventh  angel  sounded  the  third  w^o  trumpet,  un- 
der which  the  present  convulsions  commenced,  which 
are  by  the  irrevocable  decree  of  heaven  to  terminate 
in  the  total  overthrow  of  all  the  governments  now- 
existing,  and  in  the  establishment  of  a  general  re- 
formation upon  true  Christian  principles. 

In  the  year  1672,  the  third  wo  terminated  with  the 
siege  of  Cameniec ;  at  the  end  of  the  hour,  the  day, 
the  month,  and  the  year,  of  the  Euphratean  horsemen  : 
but  the  eflects  of  that  revolution  in  the  Greek  empire 
are  still  witnessed  in  the  existence  of  the  Ottoman 
powei".  In  a  little  more  than  one  century  after  the 
abolition  of  the  power  of  the  eastern  Cesars,  that  judg- 
ment commenced  which  is  destined  to  destroy  the 
revived  empire  of  the  west.  The  lightnings  and  thun- 
ders which  precede  the  earthquake  and  the  destroying 
hail,  first  arrest  the  solemn  attention  of  the  alarmed 
nations.  As  two  awful  clouds  rising  from  distant 
parts  of  the  horizon,  move  and  approach  through  the 
vast  tracts  of  ether,  until  they  meet,  and  with  terrific 
concussion  pour  down  upon  the  earth  their  fire  and 
their  hail,  so  the  two  opposite  and  contending  inter- 
ests of  liberty  and  of  despotism,  gathering  new 
strength  in  distant  parts  of  the  civilized  world,  meet 

^  Vol.  TI.  Page  190. 


^ah-s- 


HISTORY    OF    THIRD    WO.  217 

in  the  heart  of  the  empire,  and  extend  their  dreadful 
convulsions  over  all  its  members. 

The  revolution  of  177G,  wliieii  separated  for  ever 
from  the  British  crown  the  I  nitcd  Stales  of  Ameri- 
ca, taught  the  inhabitants  of  Emojx'  a  p^ractical  les- 
son, upon  the  subject  of  eilectual  resistance  to  op- 
pression, which  shall  never  be  forgotten.  The  dis- 
memberment of  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  by  the  three 
neighbouring  tyrants  of  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria, 
which  was  planned  in  1772,  and  executed  in  despite 
of  the  patriotic  exertions  of  the  brave  Kosciusko,  in 
179.'},  gave  to  the  civilized  world  an  une(j[uivocal 
witness  that  thrones  of  iniquity  are  deaf  to  the  voice 
of  reason  and  of  justice ;  and  still  are  ready  to  re- 
duce to  practice  the  doctrine  which  a  feeble  or  base 
priesthood  have  charged  upon  the  Christian  religion, 
that  the  possession  of  power  gives  a  right  to  rule ; 
and  binds,  under  the  risk  of  divine  Avrath,  the  weak 
into  submission,  without  daring  to  call  in  question 
tiie  right  by  which  they  are  held  in  durance.  It  was 
in  the  heart  of  civilized  Europe,  however,  that  the 
third  wo  commenced. 

France,  the  central  power,  the  most  populous,  the 
most  learned,  the  most  licentious,  and  not  the  least 
despotic  of  the  nations ;  France,  considered  as  the  sun 
of  the  anlichristian  sysler.i;  the  kingdom  in  which  was 
actually  revived  the  empire  of  the  west,  was  destined 
to  become  the  principal  instrument  of  its  final  ruin- 
She  had  given  assistance  to  the  sons  of  freedom,  on 
the  plains  and  along  the  shores  of  Columbia,  until  the 
Republican  eagle  snatched  the  oppressed  provinces 
from  the  paw  of  the  royal  lion  of  Kngland.     She 

2  n 


218  THE  SEVENTH  TRUMPET. 

transported  from  our  shores  across  the  tempestuous 
Athmtic  the  fire  of  liberty,  and  it  speedily  burst 
forth,  in  an  awful  flame,  in  her  own  capital. 

But  France  was  morally  incapable  of  an  immedi- 
ate enjoyment  of  liberty  and  peace.  She  was  cor- 
rupted by  the  long  and  gloomy  reign  of  tyranny  and 
superstition.  In  the  scale  of  morality  she  occupied 
the  lowest  grade.  It  was,  moreover,  inconsistent 
with  that  distributive  justice,  which  metes  out  to 
every  nation  as  such  its  full  measure,  to  permit  those 
who  had  abundantly  shed  the  blood  of  the  martyrs, 
to  escape  a  proportionate  vengeance.  The  sins  of 
the  fathers  must  be  visited  upon  their  impenitent 
children.  The  throne  of  Louis,  and  the  altar  at 
which  his  priests  ministered  with  unwashed  hands, 
had  been  both  defiled  with  the  blood  of  the  saints, 
and  they  both  require  to  be  washed  in  the  blood  of 
the  guilty  persecutor. 

VVliere  are  the  instruments  of  the  punishment  to 
be  found?  AVhere  are  they  who  shall  prevent  the  es- 
tablishment of  liberty  in  France  ?  They  are  found 
amoijg  her  own  unprincipled  sons ;  among  her  am- 
bitious, disunited,  fickle,  and  ferocious  demagogues; 
among  the  foes  of  freedom  in  the  world;  and  on  the 
several  thrones  of  the  adjacent  nations.  The  heathen 
raged :  the  kingdoms  were  moved:  the  pillars  of  em- 
pire began  to  tremble :  tyrants  felt  their  heads  for 
their  crow  ns ;  and  with  convulsive  violence  grasping 
their  sceptres,  they  resolved  at  Pilnilz,  that  the  ex- 
ample of  America  should  not  be  copied  in  Europe ; 
and  that  the  iron  law  which  had  recently  been  adopt- 
ed fur  the  purpose  of  annihilating  the  kingdom  of 


HISTORY    OF    TMIKI)    WO.  219 

Poland,  sliould  be  applied  in  \i<  full  riironr  to  revolu- 
(ionaiy  France,  until  her  risiii*;  liljerties  should  sink 
into  tile  tonil).  The  confederacy  of  European  nio- 
narclis  was  formed.*  France  resisted.  The  contest 
commenced.  The  ansjel  of  deatli  presided  over 
the  storm.  He  blows  his  trumpet.  It  is  the  third 
and  the  last  wo  to  the  inhal)i(ersof  the  i»:reat  Roman 
empire. 

The  French  revolution  took  place  in  the  year 
1789.  The  states  general,  an  assembly  consist- 
ing of  three  distinct  bodies,  nobles,  clergy,  and  com- 
mon people,  which  had  not  met  for  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years,  were  convened  by  the  call  of  Louis  XVI. 
on  the  5th  of  May.  They  all  met  in  one  hall.  Tlie 
representatives  of  the  people  equalled  in  number 
the  other  two  orders ;  and  they  assumed  the  name  of 
the  NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY.  They  abolished  the  no- 
bility; destroyed  the  feudal  system;  reduced  the 
clergy  to  a  state  of  dependence  on  the  public  trea- 
sury, confiscating  the  property  of  the  church.  They 
erected  a  limited  monarchy.  The  king  reluctantly 
yielded.  He  was  insincere,  and  they  Avere  distrust- 
ful ;  and  in  the  year  1792,  they  called  a  national 
CONVENTION.  It  met  on  the  21st  September,  and  im- 
mediately resolved  to  erect  upon  the  ruins  of  the 
monarchy  a  republican  system.  On  the  21st  Janua- 
ry 1793,  Louis  Capd,  the  dethroned  king  of  France, 
who  had  been  alternately  a  captive  and  a  fugitive, 
was  put  to  death ;  and  the  new  republic  had  to  pre- 

'  "  The  Partition  Treaty  was  signed  July  1701,  and  on  the  fol- 
lowing month  the  treaty  of  Pilnitz  was  signed  jiersoually  Iiy  the 
emperor  and  the  king  of  Prussia." 


220  '         THE    SEVENTH    TRUMPET. 

pare  herself  against  the  wrath  which  she  provoked 
by  her  cruelty  ;  and  especially  by  her  disrespect  for 
the  powers  of  Europe,  including  tlie  imperi;d  head 
of  the  Roman  earth,  and  the  several  horns  of  the  beast, 
the  Icings  of  the  earth. 

These  were  all  instigated  to  bring  down  upon 
themselves,  by  their  own  instrumentality,  the  wo 
which  was  denounced  upon  them  by  the  God  of 
heaven  on  account  of  their  sins;  they  rushed  into  the 
battle,  and  France  had  to  contend  with  the  combined 
powers  of  Austria,  Prussia,  Sardinia,  and  the  Empire, 
together  with  Great  Britain,  Spain,  and  the  United 
Provinces. 

France  too,  a  ivo  to  herself,  was  remarkably  fitted 
to  be  a  wo  to  the  inhabiters  of  the  earth ;  faction 
upon  faction  arose  to  distract  her  repose;  she  started 
from  the  most  corrupt  and  irrational  kind  of  super- 
stition to  the  extreme  of  Atheism,  and  she  speedily 
reverted  to  her  former  creed.  She  changed  her 
forms  of  government  from  year  to  year,  and  her  ra- 
pacious demagog^les  were  alternately  the  murderers 
and  the  victims.  She  is  at  last  become  a  great  mili- 
tary empire,  guided  and  influenced  by  the  will  of  one 
man  of  gigantic  power,  of  unceasing  activity,  of  un- 
rivalled practical  skill  in  the  art  of  war,  and  of 
boundless  ambition,  who  is  at  this  moment  reaping 
in  the  heart  of  Germany  the  harvest  of  God's  wrath ; 
and  so  fulfilling  the  predictions  of  my  text,  and 
serving  in  the  most  effectual  manner  a  God  whom  he 
does  not  know  or  worship. 

The  event  is  not  at  all  doubtful.  AVhatever  may 
become    of  Napoleon   Buonaparte;   the   Germanic 


KF.FI.F.CTIOXS.  !2JI 

f^mpire  must  l)e  ovcrllirowii ;  and  the  kine;(loiiis  of 
Europe,  overt urntHl  hytliis  terrible  wo,  sliall  after- 
wards be  organized  upon  Christian  instead  of  aiili 
rlnistian  prineiples. 

III.  Fractirni  Remarks. 

Ifavino-  detained  you  so  lono;,  in  the  contenipla- 
lion  of  divine  judsi^mcnts  upon  human  empires;  and 
in  the  consideration  of  political  movements,  I  deem 
it  a  duty,  before  I  dismiss  you,  to  direct  your  eye 
toward  him  who  sits  enthroned  in  light  unconceiv- 
able ;  and  to  suggest  ideas,  such  as  the  Christian 
should  habitually  cherish  upon  taking  a  view  of  the 
>inful  policies  of  human  societies. 

1.  Your  God,  Cluistians,  reigns  over  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  and  will  ultimately  be  glorified  in  all 
Iheir  revolutions.  He  made  all  things  for  himself; 
yea,  even  the  nicked  for  the  day  of  evil.  In  hiju  too 
all  things  consist:  for  they  are  upheld  by  the  word 
of  his  power.  Before  he  called  them  into  existence, 
he  determined  in  what  manner  they  should  be  go- 
verned: and  he  constrains  tliem  to  answer  the  pur- 
pose for  which  they  were  formed,  however  unwilling 
they  may  be  to  obey  what  he  commands.  He,  who 
holds  the  waters  of  the  deep  in  the  hollow  of  his 
hand,  sits  upon  the  circle  of  the  earth,  and  the  inha- 
bitants are  as  giasshoppers  before  him.  He  over- 
rules their  wishes  and  their  exertions;  their  delibe- 
rations and  their  decrees ;  their  opinions  and  their 
passions;  tluir  pride  and  their  ambition;  their  wis- 


222-  THE    SEVENTH    TRUIMPET. 

doni  and  (heir  folly ;  tlieir  treaties  and  their  battles, 
for  the  accomplishment  of  his  benevolent  designs. 
To  liirn,  my  brethren,  yes,  to  him  do  ye  look.  He 
is  your  God  and  your  Redeemer.  He  is  your  own 
and  your  fathers'  Friend.  All  things  shall  co-operate 
for  the  salvation  of  his  people.  The  events  which 
come  to  pass  fulfil  his  predictions,  and  so  demonstrate 
the  prescience  of  him  who  ordered  the  end  from  the 
beginning.  •  Trust  in  him ;  rejoice  in  him ;  and  a 
great  reward  shall  be  given  you  of  the  Lord  God  of 
Israel,  under  whose  wings  you  are  come  to  trust. 
Standing  upon  a  Rock,  you  may  behold,  without 
dismay,  the  agitation  of  the  deep,  the  rolling  of  the 
billows,  and  the  tossings  of  misguided  nations.  You 
are  safe ;  and  the  Lord  shall  preserve  you  for  ever 
and  ever. 

2.  Let  us  ascertain,  ye  disciples  of  a  munificent 
Saviour,  the  end  which  he  has  in  view;  and  so  employ 
our  agency  in  bringing  it  to  pass.  Nothing  can  be 
more  honourable  than  to  be  serving  and  promoting 
the  designs  of  heaven.  Thus  co-operating  with  God 
our  labour  shall  not  be  in  vain,  our  works  shall  not 
be  lost,  and  we  shall  be  certain  of  success. 

In  his  prophetical  discoveries,  he  is  pleased  to  make 
know  n  the  end :  and  he  has  proclaimed  the  law  from 
Zion,  by  which  we  are  to  be  governed  in  the  em- 
ployment of  means  to  bring  that  end  to  pass.  Let 
your  political  attachments  yield  to  what  he  demands: 
let  your  ideas  of  self-interest  be  subjected  to  the  ful- 
filment of  his  precepts :  let  your  prejudices  and  your 
partialities,  as  well  as  your  deliberate  sentiments,  be 


REFLECTIONS.  223 

oflered  up  to  your  God  ;  and  let  your  ardent  pray- 
ers accord  exactly  with  the  information  whicli  he 
gives  relative  to  his  judo;inents  upon  the  jsjreat  anti- 
christian  empire,  and  to  the  instruments  whicli  he 
employs  to  inflict  the  threatened  wo. 

In  vain  you  would  desire  a  ditterent  result  from 
liiat  which  lie  has  jiredicted.  In  vain  you  would  op- 
pose the  plan  which  he  has  laid  down  and  proclaim- 
ed. Omniscience  discards  the  counsels  of  short- 
sighted man :  and  Ouniipotence  is  not  to  be  resisted 
by  the  feeble  arm  of  flesh.  Your  personal  welfare, 
O  believers,  thousijh  you  know  not  the  method,  will 
be  etrectually  promoted  ;  the  good  of  the  church, 
the  ultiLuate  interests  of  human  society,  the  glory  of 
tlie  moral  Governor  of  the  world,  will  be  promoted. 
Say  not  tiien  as  did  Peter  in  the  rashness  of  his  zeal 
and  the  ardour  of  his  affection,  "  far  be  this  design 
from  thee;"  lest  you  meet  with  the  humiliating  rebuke, 
"  get  thee  behind  me  Satan."  Embark  not  your  hopes 
and  your  affections  in  the  cause  of  apostate  nations; 
lest  your  affections  should  be  involved  in  wo,  and 
your  hope  should  perish.  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God,  of  every  profane  and  wicked  prince,"  of  the 
head  of  the  empire  of  the  west,  and  of  all  its  different 
kingdoms,  "  whose  day  is  come,  when  iniquity  shall 
have  an  end :  thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Remove  the 
diadem,  and  take  off  the  crown:  this  shall  not  be  the 
same :  exalt  him  that  is  low,  and  abase  him  that  is 
high.  I  will  overturn,  overturn,  overturn  it ;  and  it 
shall  be  no  more,  until  he  come  whose  right  it  is;  and 
T  will  give  it  him."* 

^  Ezek.  xxi.  2fi. 


224  THE    SEVEiNTH    TKUiMPEr. 

•■■^ 

Thus  shall  ye  be  prepared  to  join  in  the  celestial 
hymn,  of  "  the  four  and  twenty  elders,  which  sat  be- 
fore God  on  their  seats,  saying,  we  give  thee  thanks, 
O  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  art,  and  wast,  and  art 
to  come ;  because  thou  hast  taken  to  thee  thy  great 
powder,  and  hast  reigned — The  kingdoms  of  this  world 
arc  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  hi.': 
Christ ;  and  lie  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever.'' 

3.  Let  us  lament  the  political  conduct  of  Chris- 
tians in  the  present  age  of  the  world. 

I  speak  not  now  of  those  men  who  profess  Chris- 
tianity, merely  because  it  is  the  religion  of  their  fa- 
thers or  of  their  country  ;  I  speak  not  of  those  men, 
who  talk  of  religion  as  necessary  to  keep  the  multi- 
tude in  subjection,  but  not  at  all  necessary  to  men  of 
learning  and  of  rank;  I  speak  not  of  those  men  who 
degrade  Cliristianity  into  an  instrument  of  avarice 
or  ambition :  but  of  those  who  love  my  God,  who 
trust  in  my  Redeemer,  and  enjoy  the  fellowship  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Many  such  Christians  there  are 
yet  upon  the  earth.  It  is  a  mercy  to  the  earth  that 
this  is  tlie  case.  Amidst  the  distractions  of  the  vi- 
sible church;  amidst  the  confusions  of  civil  socie- 
ties ;  amidst  the  clashings  of  the  nations,  there  are 
thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  such  holy 
men  scattered  over  the  earth  :  but  they  are  yet  in  a 
state  of  imperfection ;  and  their  political  conduct  is 
generally  lamentable. 

To  them,  this  seventh  and  last  trumpet  is  a  voice 
of  warning,  and  the  harbinger  of  triumphant  joy  and 
peace.  To  the  world,  this  trumpet  is  a  wo  :  to  the 
inhabiters  of  the  Latin  empire,  the  symbolical  earth. 


REFLECTIONS.  225 

it  is  a  wo.  To  the  Gernianlo  empire,  the  successors 
of  Charlemagne  and  of  the  Cesars,  it  is  the  great 
ajid  the  Vast  wo:  to  the  horns  of  the  bcnsl,  the  crown- 
ed heads  of  P'urope,  its  hmguage  is,  ijour  kingdom 
is  dcpartfd  from  you.  Concerning  revolutionary 
France,  impious  and  ambitious  nation,  the  prophecy 
^ays,  Tliou  art  this  wo,  the  rod  of  mine  indignation , 
— the  principal  instrument  of  these  overwhelming 
jndgments. 

Is  it  not  then  lamentable  to  see  the  disciples  of 
our  Lord  divided  from  one  another,  by  attachments 
to  such  contending  powers.  They  enlist  with  zeal 
in  the  contest ;  and  take  opposite  sides  in  the  field, 
in  the  forum,  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  the  oratory. 
They  indulge  in  violent  passions ;  they  cherish  last- 
ing animosities ;  they  weaken  one  another's  hands ; 
they  bring  reproach  upon  their  profession ;  they 
give  occasion  to  worldly  men  to  laugh  at  the  religion, 
which  is  thus,  so  often,  degraded  into  a  political  in- 
strument of  party  spirit ;  and  they  insult  the  throne 
of  grace  with  contradictory  prayers  entirely  inad- 
missible before  the  Lord. 

Let  not  this  for  ever  be  the  case.  The  remedy  is 
easy.  It  is  at  hand.  Form  your  estimate  of  the  na- 
tions by  the  light  of  truth.  Weigh  their  pretensions 
in  the  balance  of  the  sanctuary.  Religion  is  not 
with  any  of  them  identified.  It  pronounces  their 
punishment;  and  hails  the  approaching  reformation. 
They  are  only  kingdoms  of  this  world,  which  must 
perish  for  their  iniquities. 

Examine  the  character  of  the  principal  warriors 
and  statesmen ;  admire  if  you  will  their  various  and 
2  E 


226  THE  SEVENTH  TRUMPET. 

splendid  talents;  judge  of  their  comparative  quali- 
ties and  merit ;  reason  upon  the  proximate  and  re- 
mote effects  of  their  achievements;  indulge  so  far  as 
you  will  your  conjectures  upon  the  particular  and 
general  results  of  the  great  contests  which  are  going 
on :  on  all  these  points  you  may  indulge  different 
sentiments,  and  be  guiltless ;  but  Oh !  for  the  love 
which  you  bear  to  our  Lord,  Avho  died  for  our  sins, 
and  now  governs  the  nations,  preserve  your  love  for 
one  another,  and  for  the  cause  of  God;  and  studi- 
ously avoid  indulging  either  wishes  or  opinions 
which  are  inconsistent  with  what  he  has  revealed  to 
you  in  this  book.     Amen. 


THE  SEVEN  GOLDEN  VIALS. 


LECTURE   VIII. 

Rev.  XV.  II., ..And  one  of  the  four  beasts  gave  unto 
the  seven  angels  seven  golden  vials,  full  of  the  wrath 
of  God,  who  liveth  for  ever  and  ever. 

IHE  instinctive  impulse  to  acquire  knowledge, 
which  every  man  feels  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  is 
remarkably  connected  in  all  its  exercises  with  the 
love  of  society.  Secluded  entirely  from  the  pros- 
pect of  imparting  to  others  the  result  of  our  own 
inquiries,  study  would  speedily  be  forsaken  by  per- 
severance, and  curiosity  herself  must  lose  her  power. 
This  law  of  our  nature,  the  existence  of  which  can- 
not be  disputed,  is  an  additional  evidence  of  the 
wisdom  and  benevolence  of  him  who  made  us,  and 
who  appointed  to  all  the  sons  of  men  tlie  bounds  of 
their  habitation;  because  it  greatly  multiplies  the 
means  of  personal  improvement  and  general  felicity. 
The  author  of  our  being  said  of  man,  while  y^i 
in  priiuitive  innocence  and  excellence,  "  It  is  not 
good  that  he  should  be  alone."  Provided  with  so- 
cial principles,  a  great  part  r)f  our  faculties  would 


228  THE    SEVEN   GOLDEN    VlALS, 

remain  unoccupied,  and  much  of  our  happiness 
would  be  cut  off,  were  we  separated  for  ever  from 
society,  and  constrained  to  live  in  eternal  solitude. 
In  the  pursuit  of  information  the  strongest  excite- 
ment which  we  feel  consists  in  the  hope  of  commu- 
nicating our  acquirements  to  our  fellow-creatures ; 
and  personal  enjoyment  is  multiplied  by  the  oppor- 
tunity of  admitting  others  into  a  participation  of 
them.  Religion  too,  would  be  stripped  of  her  most 
interesting  ornaments,  were  each  individual  secluded 
by  her  commands  from  the  presence  of  witnesses, 
and  confined  in  a  solitary  residence,  however  magni- 
ficently furnished.  The  communion  of  saints  is  one 
of  her  precious  blessings.  Wo  to  him  that  is  alone. 
Godsetteth  the  solitary/  in  families. 

The  principle  under  consideration  is  that  which 
imparts  to  history  lier  peculiar  charms.  "  By  the 
power  of  memory,  a  thing  formerly  seen  may  be 
recalled  to  the  mind  with  different  degrees  of  accu- 
racy ;"  and  history  is  an  enlarged  artificial  memory. 
"  With  respect  to  interesting  objects  and  events,  we 
are  not  satisfied  witli  a  cursory  review,  but  must 
dwell  upon  every  circumstance.  I  am  imperceptibly 
converted  into  a  spectator,  and  perceive  every  par- 
ticular passing  in  my  presence,  as  if  I  were,  in  re- 
ality, a  spectator."*  A  great  part  of  the  art  of  the 
historian,  accordingly,  consists  in  preserving  without 
interruption  this  ideal  presence  of  his  reader  with 
the  persons  and  the  events  which  he  is  describing 
and  for  this  purpose  it  is  necessary  that  he  carry  on 
his  narration  without  perplexing  it  with  too  great  a 

'   Lord  Kaiine's  Elements  of  Criticism. 


INTRODUCTORY    TO    PERIOD   THIRD.  229 

variety  of  circumstances,  however  legitimately  con- 
nected with  his  principal  subject.  He  must  attend 
to  tlie  actual  and  present  concerns  of  his  company, 
without  attempting;  to  divert  our  attention  by  the 
family  history  of  tlie  several  members.  He  will 
lind  liimself,  nevertheless,  constrained  to  return,  in  a 
subsequent  chapter,  to  the  consideration  of  persons 
and  things  connected  with  his  principal  theme,  and 
accordingly  necessary  to  be  known,  although  the 
order  of  time  should  be  reversed. 

This  must  needs  be  the  case  also  with  the  history  of 
future  events  furnished  in  the  Apocalyptical  prophe- 
cies. Having  pursued  directly  in  chronological 
order  the  series  of  important  events  predicted,  until 
we  arrive  at  a  certain  point,  we  must  return  to  the 
contemplation  of  another  series,  which  at  this  point 
meets  with  the  former,  and  which  gives  the  character 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree  to  the  subsequent  events 
most  interesting  to  the  house  of  God. 

AYe  are  now  arrived,  in  the  course  of  these  lec- 
tures, at  that  point,  wliich  calls  for  these  general  ob- 
sei-vations.  In  the  exposition  of  the  seals  and  the 
trumpets  we  have  pursued  the  history  of  society,  as 
connected  with  the  great  concerns  of  Christianity,  in 
the  regular  order  of  time,  from  the  age  of  the  apos- 
tles until  the  overthrow  of  the  great  Roman  power 
in  both  the  west  and  the  east.  Under  the  six  seals, 
we  have  attended  to  the  leading  events  of  the  first 
pkriod;  and  so  explained  the  judgments  of  heaven 
upon  the  Pagan  empire.  Under  the  seventh  seal,  we 
found  the  trumpets:  and  in  the  exposition  of  the  six 
frumpels,  wo  have  described  the  judgments  which 


230  THE    SEVEN    GOLDEN    VIALS, 

overthrew  the  Christian  empire,  in  the  second  period 
of  this  prophecy.  By  the  seventh  trumpet,  intima- 
tion has  been  given  of  the  events  of  several  subse- 
quent periods ;  and  so  far  as  it  was  a  wo  trumpet,  it 
synchronizes  with  a  part  of  the  period  of  the  vials, 
to  which  the  chapter,  from  which  I  have  taken  my 
text,  is  introductory. 

This  is  THE  THIRD  GREAT  PERIOD  of  the  Apocdlypsc, 

It  exhibits,  as  we  shall  show  in  due  time,  the  judg- 
ments of  a  righteous  God  upon  the  antichristian  em- 
pire; and,  as  it  involves  the  history  of  the  most  in- 
teresting concerns  of  the  Christian  church  in  her 
connexion  with  the  several  civilized  nations  of  Eu- 
rope, it  is  by  far  the  most  important  period  of  this 
sacred  book.  To  it  belongs  of  course  the  greater 
part  of  the  predictions;  and  we  accordingly  will 
devote  to  it  more  time  and  attention.  In  our  transi- 
tion from  the  trumpets  to  the  vials,  we  must,  however, 
return  from  the  point  of  time  at  which  we  had  ar- 
rived, to  the  consideration  of  that  point  at  which  this 
period  commences.  Indeed  it  is  necessary  to  begin 
earlier  than  the  period  itself  with  our  discussion,  in 
order  to  give  a  correct  idea  of  the  grand  object  of 
the  vials,  by  a  history  of  the  rise  of  that  antichris- 
tian system,  which  it  is  their  part  to  punish  and 
demolish. 

I  confine  myself  in  this  introductory  discourse  to 
an  exposition  of  my  text  and  context — and  a  deve- 
lopement  of  the  plan  which  I  propose  to  pursue  in  ex- 
plaining the  events  of  the  period  which  lies  before  us. 


WITH    THEIR    CONTENTS.  231 

I.  I  shall  explain  the  fii^urotive  phrnscoloi(y  of  my 
text,  and  so  ascertain  its  meaning. 

In  lliis  interpretation  wc  must  needs  attend  io  the 
rials  and  their  contents — to  the  agents  employed  for 
vsinu;  thim — to  the  personage  who  delivered  the  rials 
into  the  hands  of  the  seven  angels — and, /o  the  accompa- 
nying CHORUS. 

1.  The  instruments  of  this  righteous  judgment, 
are  called  in  the  text  seven  golden  vials  full  of  the 
nrath  of  God.  In  the  eighth  verse  of  this  chapter  these 
are  denominated  the  seven  plagues  ;  and,  in  verse  I, 
the  seven  last  plagues ;  for  in  them  is  filled  up  the  wrath 
of  God.  These  expressions  convey  to  the  most  su- 
perficial reader,  the  idea  of  pimishment  inflicted  by 
Jehovah  upon  some  certain  criminals  convicted  by 
adequate  evidence  before  his  awful  tribunal. 

"  The  English  word  vials  may  mislead  the  reader. 
They  were  such  cups  as  were  used  in  the  temple 
for  the  purpose  of  libations,  wider  at  the  top  than 
at  the  bottom."*  $<aA>!,  which  w^e  render  vial,  is 
probably  derived  from  mnv  uKig,  to  drink  enough, 
and  signifies  a  bowl  or  small  basin.  In  this  sense, 
the  learned  Daubuz  shows  it  is  used  by  the  best 
Greek  Avriters.  The  Seventy  likewise  employ  it 
generally  as  the  translation  of  pnio  a  bowl  or  basin.f 
The  name  Phiale  was  therefore  given  to  the  famous 
fountain,  or  lake,  at  the  foot  of  mount  Hermon,  from 


Dr.  Priestley's  Notes  on  the  text. 
See  Parkhurst. 


232  THK   SEVEN    GOLDEN    VIALS, 

whence  Jordan  derives  its  stream,  from  its  resepi- 
blance  to  a  great  basin.*' 

These  golden  vials  were  designed,  however,  to  hold 
not  the  incense  which  symbolizes  the  prayers  of  the 
saints,  and  are  accepted  of  the  Lord ;  but  the  wrath 
of  heaven  which  is  to  be  poured  out  upon  the  earth 
as  the  effect  of  his  justice  in  the  punishment  of  trans- 
gressors. Golden  vials  they  nevertheless  are,  for  his 
judgments  are  just  and  precious ;  and  are,  in  their 
place,  essentially  necessary  for  the  preservation  of 
the  order  of  his  empire.  Seven,f  the  number  of  com- 
pleteness, is  the  number  of  the  golden  vials;  for 
they  are  the  last  plagues  j  and  embrace  the  whole 
wrath  of  God  toward  the  object  of  the  vials.  No 
punishment  hath  ever  been  inflicted  upon  the  anti- 
christian  system  which  is  not  placed  under  these 
vials :  nor  shall  any  judgments  hereafter  come  down 
upon  the  symbolical  earth,  which  are  not  included 
under  this  complete  arrangement.  The  vials,  of 
course,  embrace  whatsoever  hath  hitherto  come  to 
pass  in  the  providence  of  God,  for  the  punishment 
and  overthrow  of  the  grand  apostacy.  This  consi- 
deration ought  itself  to  be  sufficient  grounds  for  re- 
jecting that  interpretation,  which,  by  whatever  names 
it  is  supported,  renders  all  the  vials  subsequent  to 
the  era  of  the  reformation.  He  must  be  blind  in- 
deed to  the  light  of  history,  who  denies,  that  during 
that  remarkable  period,  judgments  were  inflicted 
upon  the  kingdom  of  the  beast. 

2.  The  agents  employed  in  pouring  out  upon  the 
apostate  nations,  those  cups  of  the  Lord's  indigna- 

■   Calmet.  f  See  page  61. 


THE    ANGELS   OF   JUDGMENT.  233 

(ion,  are  said  in  tlie  text  to  be  seven  atigels.  They 
appear,  verse  1,  as  a  sign  in  heaven,  great  and  mar- 
vellous ;  and  verse  6,  tliey  come  out  of  the  temple 
in  order  to  execute  tlieir  commission.  And  the  seven 
an(>;c/s  came  mil  of  the  temple,  having  the  seven  plagues, 
clothed  in  pure  and  nhitc  linen,  and  having  their  breasts 
girded  n:ith  golden  girdles.  Tiie  sign,  Iyi^hov,  was 
seen  by  the  apostle  John  in  heaven;  and  it  was  not 
only  great,  but  also  marvellous  in  his  estimation. 
Heaven  is  the  symbol  of  the  true  church  of  God. 
There,  the  signs  of  the  times  are  to  be  seen  and 
known.  This,  verse  1,  was  another  sign,  in  addition 
to  that  described  in  chap.  xii.  1.  That  one  is  called 
in  our  translation  a  wonder  ;  but  the  word  in  the  ori- 
ginal is  the  same  as  in  this  case.  The  signification 
in  both  instances  is  the  same.  The  events  were  to 
come  to  pass  on  earth  ;  but  the  sign  was  seen  in  hea- 
ven. On  account  of  the  church,  her  antichristian 
enemies  shall  be  punished ;  and  that  punishment  is 
signified  and  made  known  to  the  church  for  the  com- 
fort of  all  her  faithful  sons,  and  for  their  encourage- 
ment in  resisting  the  man  of  sin. 

The  angels  themselves  are  the  messengers  of  di- 
vine justice — the  actual  dispensations  of  Providence. 
They  come  out  of  the  temple  with  the  plagues,  which 
they  are  appointed  to  inflict. 

Penal  dispensations  are  predicted  in  the  church, 
are  solicited  from  God  in  prayer  against  the  enemies 
of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  are  appointed  by  the 
Head  of  the  church  for  the  sake  of  his  body.  They 
are  consequently  holy.  The  angels  indeed  appear 
stepping  forth  from  the  holy  oracle,  to  fulfil  the  di- 
2  F 


234  T^HE    SEVEN   GOLDEN   VIAtS. 

vine  will,  in  the  habiliments  of  the  high  priest,  in 
pure  and  rvhite  linen,  and  having  their  breasts  girded 
with  golden  girdles.  Girded  up  for  their  work,  with 
clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart,  they  shed  the  blood  of 
the  victim  ;  and  yet  their  own  garments  remain  un- 
polluted. They  are  justified  in  their  deeds.  It  is 
the  command  of  God ;  and,  although  destructive  of 
the  lives  of  thousands,  they  are  right  who  direct  the 
execution.  Abraham  was  commanded  to  offer  in 
sacrifice  his  beloved  son;  and  was  justified  in  his 
intentional  obedience,  although  the  deed  would  have 
been  without  a  parallel  for  cruelty,  if  it  had  been 
unauthorized ;  and  would  certainly  be  so  reckoned, 
in  the  world,  by  those  who  knew  not  the  authority 
upon  which  the  Father  of  the  faithful  acted.  The 
punishments  of  the  antichristian  foe,  are  thus  also  ca- 
pable of  vindication,  although  they  may  appear  to^ 
those  who  are  ignorant,  both  of  the  law  and  the  ex- 
tent of  guilt  incurred,  severe  and  blood-thirsty. 

"  These  seven  plagues,"  says  Dr.  Johnston,  "which 
under  seven  distinct  dispensations  of  divine  provi- 
dence, partly  have  been,  and  partly  shall  be,  brought 
upon  Papal  Rome,  as  predicted  in  the  following 
chapter,  shall  all  be  brought  upon  her,  in  her  public 
or  national  character,  for  the  injuries  which  she  hath 
done,  and  still  shall  do,  in  that  character,  to  the  per- 
secuted church  of  Christ,  during  that  period.  That 
these  plagues  upon  Rome,  shall  come  out  of  the 
church  of  Christ  during  that  period,  is  intimated 
chap.  xi.  6. 

These  have  power  to  smite  the  earth,  (the  empire) 
with  all  plagues  as  often  as  they  will.    These  angelsj 


lAITHFUL    MINISTERS.  235 

like  the  high  priest  under  the  law,  are  clothed  with 
fine  and  white  linen,  and  have  their  breasts  girded 
with  golden  girdles.  Tluis  it  is  symbolically  repre- 
sented, that  these  dispensations  areflhe  ministers  of 
God;  that  they  strictly  execute  the  divine  coiiunand; 
and  act  only  ministerially  in  bringing  those  plagues 
upon  Papal  Jlome." 

3.  He  who  delivered  unto  the  seven  angels  these 
last  plagues,  deserves  our  attention. 

One  of  the  four  beasls  gave  unto  the  seven  angels 
seven  golden  vials  full  of  ike  wrath  of  God.  The 
four  beasts  are  the  Ti(7<Toc^x  Zux  of  chap  v.  We  have 
already  corrected  the  translation  of  these  words,  and 
explained  their  meaning.*  These  four  living  crea- 
tures are  the  ministers  of  the  gospel:  and  one  of 
(hem,  that  i^^,  a  certain  class  of  christian  ministers, 
delivered  unto  the  authorized  agents  of  divine  judg- 
ments, the  vials  of  wrath.  This  action,  beheld  in 
vision  by  the  apostle  John,  is  very  expressive.  The 
living  creature  had  received  from  his  master  the  se- 
ven plagues,]  which  were  to  fall  upon  the  antichrist 

-•  Page  55. 
\  riAjjy^j,  u'hetlier  derived  immediately  from  wAjjs-c-^;  to  smite,  or 
remotely  from  1*^3  to  shake,  denotes  such  a  calaiiiit}'  as  inflicts  a 
heavy  blow  U|)on  its  subject.  The  strokes  of  vengeance  upon  the 
antichristian  e  npire  are  many  and  severe.  They  are  nevertheless 
appointed  by  the  Head  of  (he  church;  and  the  tninhtcrs  o\'  the 
church  will,  of  course,  denounce  the  judgments;  and,  instead  of 
lamenting  or  preventing  the  execution  of  the  sentence,  will  order 
the  agents  of  Providence  to  their  work. 


236  THE    SEVEN    GOLDEN    VJALS. 

tian  powers,  civil  and  ecclesiastic ;  and  he,  coming 
out  of  heaven,  gives  them  up  to  the  angels,  in  order 
to  execute  without  delay  the  sentence  passed  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth.  One  only,  of  the  four 
living  creatures,  is  thus  employed.  While  the  many 
pastors  and  teachers  of  the  church  are  occupied,  in 
promoting  by  other  methods  the  interests  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  there  are  a  few,  of  more  public  spirit,  of 
more  correct  information,  of  greater  fidelity  to  the 
social  concerns  of  the  Christian  world,  and  of  less 
subserviency  to  the  schemes  of  temporizing  politi- 
cians, who  deliver  up  to  the  angels  the  plagues  which 
come  upon  the  nations.  They  do  so,  by  explaining 
and  applying  the  predictions — by  testifying  against 
lawless  power — by  plainly  pronouncing  sentence, 
from  the  word  of  God,  upon  the  opposers  of  righte- 
ousness— by  actual  encouragement  to  the  instru- 
ments of  vengeance — and  by  prayer  for  the  over- 
throw of  Satan  s  kingdom,  including  the  several 
kingdoms  of  the  Roman  earth.  Psa.  Ixxix.  6,  7. 
Pour  out  thy  wrath  upon  the  heathen  that  have  not 
known  thee,  and  upon  the  kingdoms  that  have  not  called 
upon  thy  name.  For  they  have  devoured  Jacob,  and 
laid  waste  his  dwelling-place. 

Judgments,  inflicted  upon  the  nations,  for  the  sake 
of  the  church,  ought  certainly  to  be  approved  of  by 
her  members  and  her  ministers.  We  are  bound  to  pray 
for  them,  as  appears  from  this  verse,  and  also  from  the 
example  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  x.  25.  We  are, 
moreover,  required  to  rejoice  in  them.  Psa.  xlviii.  11. 
"  Let  mount  Zion  rejoice,  let  the  daughters  of  Judah 
be  glad,  because  of  thy  judgments."  Nor  is  this  incon- 


FAITHFUL    MINISTERS.  237 

sistent  with  that  benevolent  and  merciful  spirit  whicii 
becometh  the  disciples  of  our  Lord.  Jt  is  assuredly 
consistent  with  piety,  to  acquiesce  in  what  its  author 
finds  necessary,  for  his  own  glory,  to  do :  and  the 
charity  of  Christians  cannot  be  sincere,  when  it  tends 
to  prevent  what  the  Redeemer  himself,  in  his  mercy 
to  them,  performs  in  support  of  true  religion.  Is 
it  inconsistent  with  the  holiness  of  angels  to  approve 
of  the  divine  justice  in  the  punishment  of  men  ?  Is 
it  not  consistent  with  the  holiness  of  God  to  reveal 
his  wrath  I  and  can  it,  then,  be  inconsistent  with  an 
evangelical  disposition,  to  rejoice  in  the  overthrow 
of  the  nations  that  do  hurt  to  the  church  of  God, 
and  so  oppose  the  best  interests  of  the  human  family? 
Christians  cannot,  I  admit,  entirely  divest  them- 
selves of  solicitude  for  the  prosperity  of  the  civil 
communities  to  Aviiich  they  belong.  They  ought  not 
to  be  negligent  of  such  things.  Their  own  temporal 
interests,  the  lives,  and  the  property  of  their  friends 
and  their  relatives,  are  interwoven  with  the  national 
policy.  Their  passions  and  their  prejudices  are  in- 
terested in  the  political  elevation  or  degradation  of 
certain  men ;  their  own  fears  and  hopes,  and  their 
calculations  of  futurity,  co-operating  with  patriotic 
sentiments,  very  frequently  and  v^y  justly  influence 
their  opinions  and  their  wishes.  The  obligations  of 
truth,  of  piety,  of  tlie  divine  will  expressed  to  the 
reasonable  creature,  still,  how^ever,  remain  in  force ; 
and,  if  the  combined  effect,  of  such  circumstances  as 
have  been  mentioned,  extenuates  the  crime  of  inat- 
tention to  the  purposes  of  Providence  in  the  revo- 
lutions of  nations,  it  by  no  means  can  justify  resist- 


238  THE    SETEN   GOLDEN   WALS. 

ance  to  these  purposes,  or  vindicate  the  man  who  la- 
ments the  demolition  of  thrones  of  iniquity,  and 
looks  back  fretfully,  like  the  wife  of  Lot,  upon  the 
ruins  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

A  very  different  state  of  things  is  represented  in 
this  chapter.  The  angel  of  destruction  comes  out 
of  the  church — the  temple;  and  the  minister  of  Christ 
gives  up  to  him  the  plagues  which  he  is  to  inflict  on 
the  world. 

4.  A  holy  company  also  appears  in  the  church, 
celebrating  the  event  in  songs  of  exultation.  Verses 
2 — 4.  And  I  saw  as  it  were  a  sea  of  glass  mingled 
with  fire ;  and  them  that  had  gotten  the  victory  over 
the  beast,  and  over  his  image,  and  over  his  mark,  and 
over  the  number  of  his  name,  stand  on  the  sea  of  glass, 
having  the  harps  of  God.  And  they  sung  the  song  of 
Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  and  the  song  of  the  Lamb, 
saying,  great  and  marvellous  are  thy  works.  Lord 
God  Almighty;  just  and  true  are  thy  ways,  thou  King 
of  saints.  Who  shall  not  fear  thee,  O  Lord,  and  glo- 
rify thy  name  ?  for  thou  only  art  holy :  for  all  nations 
shall  come  and  worship  before  thee:  for  thy  judgments 
are  made  manifest.  This  celestial  band  of  choristers 
demand  your  attention,  my  brethren,  that  under- 
standing their  situation,  their  character,  and  their 
song,  you  may  join  their  hallowed  company,  and 
take  a  cheerful  share  in  their  virtuous  exercises. 

1.  They  stand  on  a  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire. 
This  chrystal  sea,  chap.  iv.  6.  was  before  the  throne 
in  the  temple  of  Jehovah.    It  represents  the  blood 


THE  TRUE   CHURCH.  239 

of  the  covenant,  by  which  we  are  justified  and  sanc- 
tified."*     In  this  vision,  the  sea  appears  mingled  with 

fire.  Its  waves  flash  with  the  flames  of  divine  indig- 
nation, shining  liigh  to  the  glory  of  l)is  justice.  The 
situation  of  the  saints  is  accordingly  described  as  con- 

"sisting  in  union  with  Christ  in  the  merits  of  his 
atoning  sacrifice,  and  in  his  exercise  of  vengeance 
upon  them  who  are  not  interested  in  the  atonement, 
and  obey  not  the  gospel.     Our  God  is  a  consuming 

fire,  Tlie  holy  choristers  stand  upon  the  rock,  and 
the  divine  perfections  are  as  a  wall  of  fire  around 
them  for  the  destruction  of  their  persecutors. 

2.  Tliey  are  characterized  as  having  gotten  the 
victory,  and  as  liaving  the  harps  of  God. 

They  who  stand  upon  the  sea  of  glass,  are  "  con- 
querors, and  more  than  conquerors  through  him  that 
loved  them,  and  washed  them  from  their  sins  in  his 
own  blood.  For  they  overcame  by  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  and  by  the  word  of  their  testimony, ^^^  They 
had  celestial  harps  given  to  them.  This  instrument 
of  music  is  of  great  antiquity.  .Tubal,  Gen.  iv.  21. 
invenff'd  both  harps  and  organs  before  the  time  of  the 
general  deluge.  Harps  were  in  use  in  the  temple  ser- 
vice ;  and  are  described  as  uttering  lofty  and  cheerful 
sounds,  adapted  to  a  happy  condition  of  the  church. 
The  use  of  them  was  laid  aside  during  the  captivity, 
as  unsuitable  to  the  depressed  state  of  the  saints  in 
Ghaldea.       Psa.  cxxxvii.   1,  2.    "By  the  rivers  of 

*  This  symbol  is  explained  page  51. 
+  RoiQ.  viii.  37.     Rev.  xii,  11. 


240  THE    SEVEN   GOLDEN   VIALS. 

Babylon  there  we  sat  down ;  yea,  we  wept,  when  we 
remembered  Zion.  We  hanged  our  harps  upon  the 
willowsy  in  the  midst  thereof."  The  music  of  the 
harp  was  less  of  the  plaintive  than  of  the  eucharistic 
kind,  as  appears  from  its  description — solemn  and 
sweet  melody,  employed  in  giving  thanks  to  God 
for  his  mighty  works.*  It  is  therefore  suited  to  the 
song  of  the  conquerors,  when  they  beheld  the  angels 
of  the  vials  going  forth  to  pour  out  the  wrath  of  God 
upon  their  enemies. 

This  company  are  also  characterized,  from  the  na- 
ture of  the  warfare  Avhich  they  had  accomplished. 
It  is  of  a  peculiar  kind.  They  had  gotten  the  victory 
over  the  beast,  and  over  his  image,  and  over  his  mark, 
and  over  the  number  of  his  name.  It  is  of  importance 
to  the  correct  interpretation  of  this  prophecy,  that  de- 
finite ideas  be  attached  to  each  of  the  four  symbols 
mentioned  as  overcome.  A  full  exposition  of  them 
must,  however,  be  postponed  until  a  subsequent  part 
of  these  lectures,  when  we  shall  assign  our  reasons 
for  the  sense  in  which  we  now  understand  them. 

The  beast  is  the  western  empire,  in  its  civil  ca- 
pacity, with  all  the  governments  of  its  several  king- 
doms, tyrannical,  immoral,  and  opposing  pure  Chris- 
tianity by  establishing  corrupt  religious  systems,  and 
by  persecuting  those  who  dissent  from  such  esta- 
blishments. 

The  image  of  the  beast,  is  the  papacy, — the  im- 
pious human  headship  of  the  church,  reduced,  for 
mere  political  purposes,  into  the  form  of  a  worldly 
kingdom. 


Isa.  xxiii.  16.     Psa.  xcii.  1—3. 


THE   CONQUERED   FOE.  241 

The  MARK  OF  THE  BEAST,  is  tllC  ACTUAL  TROFES- 
»ION    OF    THE     ESTABLISHED     SUPERSTITION,     by   tllOSe, 

who,  conlniry  to  the  law  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus 
Christ,  worsiiip  according  to  the  inventions  of  men. 

I'lie  NUMBER  of  the  name  of  the  beast,  or  the  name 
itself,  is  the  Latin  system  of  social  order,  in  the 
great  corrupt  political  and  ecclesiastical  common- 
wealth of  European  nations — Axnm?,  or  six  hundred 
and  sixty-six.     Latinus,  is  the  name  of  the  beast. 

Against  the  ben.sl,  liis  image,  his  marky  and  hi^ 
name  or  number,  the  band  of  holy  men  described  in 
this  chapter,  give  their  testimony.  They  oppose, 
they  contend,  they  conquer,  and  they  triumph.  They 
are,  it  is  true,  in  turn,  opposed,  misrepresented, 
pitied,  detested,  and  persecuted  by  of  their  fellow- 
Dien;  they  suffer  shame,  and  reproach,  and  loss: 
but  they  have  truth  and  righteousness  upon  their 
side ;  and  they  are  held  up  in  prophecy  as  patterns 
of  Christian  imitation.  They  have  the  approbation  of 
their  own  enlightened  consciences ;  of  the  best  men  in 
every  age  ;  of  confessors,  apostles,  and  martyrs ;  of 
the  prophets  who  have  gone  before  them ;  of  the  an- 
gels of  light,  and  of  the  living  and  eternal  God. 
Standing,  tlierefore,  upon  the  sea  of  glass,  whose 
waves  flasli  \\  ith  fiery  indignation  against  the  slavish 
votaries  of  antichrist,  they  behold  the  faithful  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel  pronouncing  divine  judgment,  and 
giving  to  the  angels  clad  in  white,  and  begirt  with 
girdles  of  gold,  the  plagues  which  shall  put  an  end 
to  the  systems  of  iniquity,  which  have  long  afllicted 
the  churches  and  the  nations.  Accompanying  with 
their  voices  the  exalted  strain^;  of  their  celestial 
2  G 


'2i2  THE    SEVEN    GOLDEIV    VIALS. 

harps,  Ihci/  shig  the  song  of  Moses  the  servant  of  God], 
and  the  song  of  the  Lamb. 

The  song  of  3Ioses  merits  your  attentive  perusal. 
It  is  found  in  Deut.  xxxii.  1 — 43.  "  It  predicts," 
says  Dr.  Johnston,  "  all  the  calamities  which  ha^e 
befallen  the  Jews,  and  the  cause  of  them.  It  fore- 
tells the  character,  rise,  height,  and  downfal  of  anti- 
clnist ;  and  closes  with  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  united 
in  one  church,  singing  in  concert  their  triumph  ovev 
the  common  enemy."  "  The  song  of  the  Lamh,^''  adds 
the  same  writer,  "  is  recorded  in  this  book,  chap.  v. 
8 — 14.  How  exactly  does  this  song  celebrate  the 
joyful  occasion  of  the  commencement  of  the  millen- 
nium, and  represent  both  Jew  and  Gentile  united  in 
the  same  triumphant  victory  over  antichrist  ?" 

The  following  words  is  a  compend  of  these  two 
remarkable  songs.  "  Great  and  marvellous  are  thy 
works.  Lord  God  Almighty ;  just  and  true  are  thy 
ways,  thou  King  of  saints.  AVho  would  not  fear 
thee,  O  Lord,  and  glorify  thy  name  ?  for  thou  only 
art  holy ;  for  all  nations  shall  come  and  worship  be- 
fore thee;  for  thy  judgments  are  made  manifest." 

The  language  of  this  song  recjuires  no  exposition. 
Piety  will  always  suggest  to  the  judicious  Christian 
suitable  instances  of  the  greatness  and  goodness  of 
our  almighty  King.  Let  all  glorify  him,  for  in  the 
vials  of  his  wrath  are  his  judgments  made  manifest ; 
and  all  the  nations  shall  hereafter  come  and  worship 
before  him.  In  the  mean  time  few  understand  the 
merits  of  the  controversy  between  the  world  and 
the  church. 

"  True  Christians  steadily  give  their  testimony  as 
witnesses,  in  favour  of  tlie  latter;  but  some  men  take 


niEviors  coNfiinERATiONS.  243 

one  side  of  the  question,  and  others  tlie  other;  and 
multitudes  calling-  in  question  the  knowledge  or  the 
veracity  of  these  two  witnesses,  hence,  during  that 
period,  take  the  wrong  side  of  that  important  and 
interesting  question.  But,  when  in  tlie  course  of  di- 
vine providence,  Rome  shall  be  completely  over- 
thrown, in  the  manner  and  at  the  time  predicted  in 
this  book ;  when  those  whose  religion  consists  in  that 
truth,  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy,  which  the  bible 
teaches,  shall  in  the  course  of  divine  providence  in- 
crease in  number,  and  rise  into  high  respect  in  the 
world;  these  events  shall  be  justly  considered,  as 
they  are  in  themselves  the  publication  of  the  judg- 
ment or  sentence  of  God  himself,  in  favour  of  the 
pure,  simple,  and  scriptural  religion  of  Christ. 
This  view  which  the  minds  of  men  shall  take  of  these 
events,  shall  be  one  principal  instrument  in  the  hand 
of  God  at  that  period,  to  make  all  the  Gentiles  come 
and  worship  before  God."* 

II.  I  shall  lay  before  you  an  outline  of  the  plan 
which  I  propose  to  pursue,  in  explaining  the  events 
of  the  third  Apocalyptical  period. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary,  in  order  to  understand 
the  operation  and  effects  of  the  seven  golden  vials, 
that  we  previously  know  the  character  of  that  system 
of  antichristian  disorder  which  they  are  intended  to 
punish  and  destroy.  It  is  uncontrovertibly  proved* 
by  the  commission  given  to  the  seven  angels,  who 
had  received  these  vials,  that  the  grand  object  of  the 

*  Dr.  Johnston's  Commentary  on  the  Revelation,  p.  121,  122. 


2i4  THE    SEAMEN    GOLDEN   VIALS. 

wrath  of  God  contained  in  them  is  the  symboltcaL 
Earth — the  western  Roman  empire.  Chap.  xv.  1. 
"  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple,  say- 
ing to  the  seven  angels,  go  your  ways,  and  pour  out 
the  vials  of  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the  earth."* 

This  object,  so  perplexingly  and  painfully  inter- 
esting to  the  greatest  and  the  purest  parts  of  the 
Christian  church,  through  a  succession  of  ages,  had 
been,  long  before  this  Revelation  was  given  to  John 
the  Divine,  the  subject  of  sacred  prediction,  and 
minute  description.  The  prophets  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament often  spake  of  it;  and  the  New  Testament 
brings  it  repeatedly  into  view. 

In  the  prophecies  of  Daniel,  and  in  several  chap- 
ters of  the  Apocalypse,  preceding  the  one  in  which 
the  vials  are  introduced  to  our  observation,  we  have 
various  and  very  particular  representations  of  this 
great  and  long  enduring  enemy  of  righteousness  in 
the  earth.  It  is,  of  course,  taken  for  granted,  that, 
in  reading  the  account  given  of  the  pouring  out  of 
the  vials,  we  are  so  far  acquainted  with  the  object  of 
the  divine  judgments,  as  to  understand  their  special 
design. 

We  must  therefore  request  your  attention  to  such 
preceding  predictions,  as  are  necessary  to  be  under- 
stood by  the  student  of  prophecy,  in  order  to  make 
up  a  correct  opinion  upon  the  events  of  the  period 
at  which  we  are  now  arrived. 

The  account,  which  we  have  in  this  context,  of  the 
actual  condition  of  the  true  church,  at  the  time  of 
commissioning  the  angels  of  the  vials,  is  also  calcu- 

*  See  in  explanation  of  this  symbol,  pages  00,  91.  and  the  In- 
troduction to  Lecture  IX. 


I'KEVIUIJS    CONSIDERATION'S  24.'l 

lilted  to  enforce  the  propriety  of  such  consideration^,. 
Tlie  period  of  the  vials  represents  tlie  church  of  God, 
as  possessinoj  the  means  of  extensive  knowledge, — 
as  consisting  of  comparatively  a  few  faithful  mem- 
bers— and  as  finding  it  peculiarly  difficult  to  increase 
the  number.  Verses  5,  8.  And  after  that  I  looktdy 
andy  belioldy  the  temple  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  testi- 
mony  in  heaven  was  opened.  And  the  temple  was  filled 
with  smoke  from  the  glory  of  God,  and  from  his  power; 
and  no  man  was  able  to  enter  into  the  temple  till  the 
seven  plagues  of  the  seven  angels  were  fulfilled.  The 
opening  of  the  temple  indicates,  as  I  have  shown  in 
the  last  lecture,*  the  increase  of  Christian  know- 
ledge, through  the  means  of  grace  divinely  appoint- 
ed in  the  church.  I  do  not  deny,  however,  that  be- 
sides this  idea,  the  consistency  of  metaphorical  lan- 
guage required  the  opening  of  the  gates  of  the  tem- 
ple, in  order  that  the  angels  might  go  out  to  their 
work;  but  this  fact,  instead  of  militating  against  the 
interpretation  given  of  the  symbol,  will,  in  the  pre- 
sent instance,  tend  to  its  support.  The  instruments 
of  vengeance  could  not  have  proceeded  out  of  the 
church,  nor  could  the  ministers  of  religion  give  up 
to  the  proper  agents  the  judgments  to  be  inflicted 
upon  antichrist,  without  being  possessed  of  correct 
information  upon  these  subjects.  I  am  therefore  jus- 
tilied  in  maintaining  tlie  consistent  use  of  the  sym- 
bolical phraseology,  and  in  describing  this  period, 
as  a  time  of  increasing  Christian  knowledge.  The 
history  of  the  times  of  the  vials  will  render  this  fact 
obvious  to  all ;  although  the  whole  period  has  not 

•    See  pap^e  208. 


246  THE    SEVEN   GOLDEN   VIALS. 

been  so  remarkable  for  the  diffusion  of  the  light  of 
the  gospel,  as  that  part  of  it  now  passing  over  our 
heads,  and  which  has  recently  been  under  discussion.^ 
Then,  when  the  temple  was  opened,  the  ark  of  the  co- 
venanl  Avas  also  revealed;  but,  in  the  case  before  us, 
the  temple  was  Jilled  ivilh  smoke  from  the  glory  of 
the  Lord,  and  from  his  power,  and  no  man  was  able 
to  enter  into  the  temple. 

This  expression  denotes  both  the  paucity  of  church 
members,  and  the  dijjicidty  of  augmenting  their  num- 
ber. K«i  iyifXKT^  0  vciog  Koi^TTva  &c  ry,g  So^tig  th  ©esi.  The 
glory  of  God,  Ao|^  t«  ©e^,  is  the  shekinah,  above  the 
mercy-seat,  God  in  Christ,  or  rather,  the  Glory-Je- 
hovah;!- for  it  is  the  translation  of  the  Hebrew 
nw  ni:234  From  him,  God  our  Redeemer,  the  head 
of  the  church,  proceeds  the  symbolical  smoke.  It 
cannot  of  course  be  like  the  smoke  of  the  pit,  under 
the  first  wo,  a  system  of  falsehood  and  delusion,  such 
as  the  Mahometan  Koran;  but  a  righteous  display  of 
his  own  perfections  in  the  punishment  of  transgres- 
sors. KitTTvof,  smoke,  is  from  Ka<w,  to  burn,  and  Tivoviy 
breath,  and  signifies  an  exhalation  from  burning,  li- 
terally, the  burning  breath  of  the  Lord.  There  is 
undoubtedly  a  reference  in  these  words  to  the  facts 
recorded  by  Moses  and  the  writer  of  the  book  of 

"  See  Page  209. 

t  The  learned  reader  will  derive  much  gratification  on  this  sub- 
ject from  an  attentive  perusal  of  a  Dissertation  on  God's  Visible 
Presence,  by  Lord  Barrington.  Miscellanea  Sacra,  vol.  iii.  p.  117. 
London,  1770. 

X  See  Hab.  ii.  14.  Isa.  si.  5.  and  !x.  1,  2.  Rom.  vi.  4.  James 
•ii.  1.     Compare  with  P.ev.  xxi.  11,  25.     See  also  Note,  page  52. 


FREVIOUS   CON?;iDEILA.TIONS.  217 

1  Kinof?.  Exod.  xl.  3.'5.  "And  Mo:^es  was  not  able 
to  enter  into  the  tent  of  tlie  congregation,  because 
tlie  cloud  abode  thereon,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
tilled  the  tabernacle.  1  Kings  viii.  10,  11.  "The 
cloud  filled  the  house  of  the  Lord,  so  that  the  priests 
could  not  stand  to  minister,  because  of  the  cloud : 
for  tlie  glory  of  the  Lord  had  filled  the  house  of  the 
Lord."  It  is  not  iiowever  an  insignificant  reference 
to  these  facts.  It  declares  that  none  entered  into  the 
church — the  temple,  for  a  specified  time,  during  the' 
period  of  the  vials — till  the  seven  plagues  of  the  seven 
augcls  nere  fuljilhd. 

Such  is  the  tendency  of  the  antichristian  opposi- 
tion, and  the  consequent  judgments,  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult, even  in  a  Christian  land,  to  ascertain  the  path 
of  duty ;  and  the  effect  is,  that,  while  the  world  won- 
ders afler  the  beast,  there  are  few  who  enter  among 
the  faithful  witnesses  of  primitive  truth  and  order, 
against  the  corrupt  systems  of  the  several  nations  of 
Christendom.  The  multiplicity  of  interests  and 
temptations,  with  which  the  political  condition  of 
Christians  is  embarrassed,  so  far  prevails  over  the 
abundant  means  of  Christian  knowledge,  that  the 
pure  church  is  a  small  minority  among  their  fellow- 
men.  It  is,  of  course,  the  more  necessary,  that  we 
attend  to  this  subject,  and  become  ourselves,  my 
brethren,  faithful  in  our  generation. 

In  order  to  assist  you  in  your  resolutions,  to  act 
with  those  who  dwell  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  testi- 
mony, during  this  eventful  period,  I  intend  to  ex- 
plain the  subjects  connected  with  the  golden  vials  of 
God's  wrath,  in  the  following  order. 


248  PREVIOUS    CONSIJJERATIONS. 

1. 1  shall  show  that  the  object  of  the  wrath  of  God, 
poured  out  from  the  golden  vials,  is  the  Anti- 
christ. And  in  my  lecture  upon  this  subject,  I 
ti*ust  T  shall  be  able  to  convince  you,  that,  notwith- 
standing the  recent  and  the  very  learned  efforts  of 
Mr.  Faber,  to  restrict  the  application  of  this  title  of 
infamy  to  modern  and  revolutionary  France,  the  Fa- 
thers of  the  reformation  have  not  been  mistaken  in 
their  application  of  it  to  the  corrupt  system  of  Ro- 
man tyranny  and  superstition.  1  shall  show  from  the 
inspired  writings  of  John,  of  Daniel,  and  of  Paul, 
that  the  great  apostacy,  connected  with  the  fourth 
universal  empire,  is  designated  not  improperly  the 
antichrist,  which  is  defined  to  be  that  abuse  of  the 
Christian  religion,  which,  interwoven  with  tyrannical 
constitutions  of  civil  polity  within  the  hounds  of  Ih. 
western  empire  of  the  Cesars,  is  opposed  to  the  true  re- 
ligiony  and  an  obstacle  to  its  prevalence  in  church  and 
state. 

2.  I  shall  explain  the  contents  of  the  little  book 
of  the  Apocalypse.  Here  I  must  also  oppose  Mr. 
Faber,  and  justify  the  arrangement  of  bishop  New- 
ton, limiting  this  book  to  chap.  xi.  1 — 14.  In  the 
exposition,  we  shall  describe  the  two  great  contend- 
ing parties,  who  carry  on  a  warfare  of  1260  years. 
A  heathenized  church  in  connexion  with  immoral  go- 
vernments, in  opposition  to  the  true  church,  the  wit-' 
n esses  of  Christianity. 

3.  I  shall  give,  from  the  twelfth  chapter,  an  expo- 
•^ition  of  the  vision  of  the  Wom-an  and  the  Dragon, 


SUBJECTS    OF    DISCUSSION.  249 

another  representation  of  the  contest  between  the 
true  chu! ill  of  Clnist  and  the  power  of  tlie  civil  arm, 
throughout  the  whole  empire  during  the  same  period 
of  1260  years. 

4.  A  lecture  upon  the  thirteenth  chapter,  which 
gives  a  more  full  description  of  the  cliaracter  of  the 
Roman  apostacy,  will  furnish  you  w  ith  the  interpre- 
tation of  THE  TWO  BEASTS,  the  teu-homed  beast  of 
the  sea,  and  the  two-horned  beast  of  the  earthy  to- 
getlier  with  that  of  the  image  of  the  beast,  of  the 
MARK  of  the  beast,  of  his  name,  and  the  number  of 
his  name.  These  visions  are  another  collateral  his- 
tory of  that  system  which  it  is  the  design  of  the 
vials  to  punish  and  destroy. 

5.  I  shall  give,  from  the  fourteenth  chapter,  a 
compendious  history  of  the  Christian  religion,  in  its 
trutli  and  power,  during  the  same  remarkable  period 
of  the  general  apostacy.  In  this  history,  there  will 
appear  three  distinctly  marked  epochs  of  peculiar 
success  in  spreading  the  saving  knowledge  of  reveal- 
ed religion  in  the  world ;  and  in  opposing  the  errors 
of  antichrist.  The  conclusion  exhibits  the  harvest 
and  the  vintage  of  divine  judgments  upon  the  com- 
monwealth of  European  nations. 

6.  Having  thus  explained,  in  detail,  my  views  of 
that  system,  which  in  the  providence  of  God  has 
been  permitted  to  afflict  the  earth  for  centuries,  I 
shall  proceed  to  give  the  history  of  each  vial  by 
itself,   comparing    the   event   with   the   prediction, 

2  H 


250  COiNCLUDING    REMARKS. 

This  will  complete  the  discussion  of  the  third  period, 

called  THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  VIALS. 
CONCLUSION. 

You  will  allow  me  now,  Christians,  before  we  se- 
parate for  the  day,  to  suggest  the  two  following  ideas 
to  your  consideration. 

1.  As  you  discover,  by  your  attention  to  this 
course  of  lectures,  a  sincere  desire  to  understand  the 
Apocalyptical  predictions,  I  respectfully  solicit  an 
interest  in  your  prayers,  while  I  am  endeavouring  to 
aid  your  inquiries. 

To  myself,  it  is  highly  desirable  to  be  preserved 
from  the  influence  of  any  prejudices  whatever,  du- 
ring my  researches  into  this  sacred  book :  and  it  is 
not  desirable  to  yon,  Avho  wait  on  my  ministry,  that 
I  should  be  subject  to  any  partialities.  It  would  be 
no  advantage  to  you,  that  I  should  flatter  and  de- 
ceive you.  Were  1  permitted  to  prostrate  so  far  the- 
dignity  of  my  ministry,  as  to  use  exertions  for  in- 
sinuating myself  into  the  esteem  of  worldly  politi- 
cians, and  give  myself  to  the  service  of  a  certain 
party,  I  might  possibly  succeed  in  gaining  the  at- 
tachment of  some  at  the  expense  of  the  resentment 
of  others :  but,  in  so  doing,  I  would  deal  teacherous- 
iy  with  the  word  of  truth,  I  would  forfeit  the  esteem 
of  my  own  conscience,  and  I  would  provoke  the  an- 
ger of  my  God.  Let  me  rather  adopt  the  language 
of  Elihu,  "  Let  me  not,  I  pray  you,  accept  anj 
man's  person:  neither  let  me  give  flattering  titles 


CONCLUDING    REMARKS.  251 

unto  man.  For  I  know  not  to  give  flattering  titles; 
in  so  doing  my  Maker  would  soon  take  me  away."* 
Self-interest,  I  know,  frequently  deceives  men  into 
opinions  which  they  would  not  otherwise  embrace. 
The  influence  of  respectable  connexions;  the  esteem 
of  the  great  or  the  opulent;  early  prejudices;  the 
love  of  country,  that  strong  passion  of  superior  and 
noble  minds ;  each  of  these  may  give  a  bias  to  our 
sentiments,  and  render  conviction  less  dependent  up- 
on evidence  than  upon  our  wishes:  but  I  am  not  con- 
scious of  having  any  interest  inconsistent  with  fideli- 
ty to  the  scriptures ;  of  having  any  connexions  so 
dear  to  me  as  the  church  of  the  first-born,  whose 
names  are  written  in  heaven ;  of  cherishing  for  any 
other  human  being  so  high  an  esteem,  as  that  in 
w^hich  I  hold  the  prophets  and  the  martyrs ;  of  any 
prejudices  so  strong  as  my  attachment  for  the  system 
maintained  by  the  fathers,  by  the  apostles,  and  by 
the  ancient  reformers ;  nor  of  loving  any  country 
upon  earth  to  such  a  degree  as  to  wish,  for  its  sake, 
that  any  suffering  should  befall  the  inhabitants  or 
rulers  of  any  other  country;  much  less  to  such  a 
degree  as  to  pervert,  for  its  sake,  the  code  of  mo- 
rality, or  the  system  of  prophecy.  1  habitually  de- 
sire to  derive  all  my  morals,  and  all  my  politics,  as 
well  as  my  hope  and  my  faith,  from  the  oracles  of 
God.  And  I  most  earnestly  solicit  your  prayers  in 
my  behalf,  that  I  may  not  deceive  myself  in  this 
matter,  and  that  I  may  not  be  led  to  embrace  or  in- 
culcate sentiments  iireconcileable  with  the  word  of 
truth. 

Job  XXX Ji.  21,  22. 


252  CONCLUDING   REMARKb*. 

The  inspired  writers  often  asked  an  interest  in  the 
prayers  of  the  saints.  We  need  your  prayers,  my 
brethren,  at  all  times ;  and  we  take  peculiar  delight 
in  addressing  our  ministrations  to  those,  who  have 
aided  us  by  their  supplications,  and  who  are  them- 
selves, thus  prepared,  in  an  honest  and  good  heart 
to  receive  the  word,  and  to  bring  forth  correspond- 
ent fruits. 

2.  Be  careful  yourselves  to  hear,  without  political 
prejudices,  a  discussion  of  those  prophecies,  which 
respect  the  character  and  changes  of  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical relations  and  establishments. 

By  these,  we  open  the  door  of  the  temple  to  you, 
that  you  may  abound  in  knowledge  more  and  more. 
By  these,  we  reveal  to  your  view  the  commissioners 
employed  by  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  universe, 
to  conduct  to  their  appointed  end  the  movements  of 
empire.  By  these,  we  introduce  to  you  the  few 
faithful  pastors,  who,  making  a  conect  estimate  of 
national  character,  denounce  the  tyrannical  and  the 
impious,  and  give  over  to  the  angels  the  vials  of  the 
wrath  of  God,  while  they  raise  a  voice  to  the  licen- 
tious occupants  of  thrones,  saying,  "  Be  wise  now, 
therefore,  O  ye  kings;  be  instructed,  ye  judges  of 
the  earth.  Serve  the  Lord  with  fear,  and  rejoice 
-with  trembling.     Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angry, 

AND    YE   PERISH."* 

Enter  into  the  company  of  those  celestial  harpers, 
who  stand  upon  the  mount  Zion,  singing  the  song  of 
Moses  the  servant  of  God,  and  the  song  of  the  Lamb. 

■  Psa.  ii.  10—12, 


CONCLUDING    REMARKS.  253 

Forget  for  a  time  the  place  of  your  birth,  and  the 
opinions  of  worldly  wisdom ;  cast  away  from  you 
the  prejudices  of  your  education  ;  banish  from  your 
recollection  the  thoughts  of  inordinate  selfishness,  of 
deceitful  honours,  of  aspiring  ambition.  Act,  my 
brethren,  in  the  high,  the  holy,  the  heavenly  charac- 
ter of  Christians.  Taking  a  live  coal  from  the  altar 
of  incense,  arise  and  stand  before  the  God  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  taking  the  harps  of  God,  while  his 
wrath  is  tormenting  the  irreligious  world,  join  in  the 
sweet  and  solemn  melody,  by  which  the  praise  of  the 
Creator  is  celebrated,  by  the  triumphant  opponents 
of  antichristian  usurpation. 

Look  around  you  upon  the  companions  of  your 
song.  Lo,  they  stand  upon  the  sea  of  glass  mingled 
with  fire,  before  the  throne  of  the  Lamb.  They 
have  gotten  the  victory  over  the  beast,  and  over  his 
image,  and  over  his  mark,  and  over  the  number  of 
his  name. 

Welcome,  blessed  companions.  We  join  in  your 
exalted  music.  We  repeat  the  words  of  your  eu- 
charistical  hymn.  We  lift  up  our  hearts  and  our 
hands,  as  well  as  the  offering  of  our  lips,  to  ihe  God 
of  Abraham — to  thee  our  Father  in  heaven.  "  Great 
and  marvellous  are  thy  works.  Lord  God  Almighty; 
just  and  true  are  thy  ways,  thou  King  of  saints." 
Amex. 


THE  ANTICHRISTIAN  SYSTK^M. 


LECTURE  IX. 


Rev.  XV i.  I.. ..And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the 
temple,  sai/ing  to  the  seven  angels,  go  your  ways, 
and  pour  out  the  vials  of  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the 
earth. 

Jl  had  occasion,  my  brethren,  to  remark  to  you,  on 
the  last  Sabbath,  that,  in  order  to  understand  the 
prophecies  of  the  third  Apocalyptical  period,  it  is 
necessary  to  have  a  correct  idea  of  the  subject  of  the 
punishment  inflicted  by  the  outpouring  of  the  seven 
vials.  I  also  intimated  that  the  necessary  informa- 
tion was  previously  given  in  this  sacred  book,  so  that 
it  is  taken  for  granted  that  we  come  to  the  considera- 
tion of  this  chapte^,  prepared  with  some  knowledge 
of  the  object  of  these  judgments.  It  would,  indeed, 
be  labour  in  vain,  to  attempt  an  elucidation  of  the 
current  events  from  scriptuie,  without  having  pre- 
viously submitted  ourselves  to  the  direction  of  the 
sacred  oracles.  No  acuteness  of  intellect,  no  dili- 
gence of  research,  no  extent  of  erudition,  will  snflice 
to  understand  this  subject,  unless  the  heart,  sanctified 


256  ANTICHKISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

by  grace,  cherish  principles  of  submission  to  the 
Ruler  of  the  nations,  to  such  a  degree  as  to  prefer 
his  word  to  the  counsels  of  cabinets,  and  the  pros- 
perity of  his  kingdom  to  the  triumphs  of  human 
empires. 

That  piety  which,  unbiassed  by  views  of  national 
policy,  rejoices  in  the  moral  government  of  God,  is 
necessary  to  study  with  impartiality  the  great  social 
concerns  of  the  moral  world,  and,  of  course,  to  under- 
stand the  predictions  of  heaven  respecting  them. 
This  representation  is  supported  by  one  of  the  pro- 
phets. Dan.  xii.  10.  3Icmi/  shall  be  purified,  and 
made  rvhite,  and  tried;  hut  the  nicked  shall  do  tvicked- 
ly :  and  none  of  the  wicked  shall  understand  ;  hut  the 
AvisE  shall  understand. 

In  the  words  of  my  text,  you  are  informed  of  the 
authority  under  which  the  angels  acted — and  of  the 
object  of  the  judgments  which  they  poured  out  from 
the  vials.  The  authority  is  that  of  Jehovah-Jesus, 
the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth.  He  who  up- 
holds the  pillars  of  the  world,  speaks  with  powers 
and  the  angels  obey — And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out 
of  the  temple  saying  to  the  seven  angels,  go  your  ways,^ 


>,  u  This,"  says  Mr.  Thomas  Reader,  in  his  Remarks  on  thp: 
PROPHETIC  PART  OF  THE  Revej^ation,  a  work  oC  Considerable 
merit,  "  this  voice  declared  the  will  ol  God,  and  the  united  desire 
of  his  people." 

From  this  writer  I  quote  a  paragraph  to  show  his  view  of  the 
character  of  the  angels,  and  the  living  creature,  which  gave  to 
them  the  vials.  "  These  seven  angels,  having  the  seven  last  plagues, 
ret.  6,  7.  being  called  to  offer  a  dreadful  sacrifice  to  the  justice 
of  God,  were  clothed  in  robes  of  'more  than  bare  innocence  j'  viz. 


THE    SYMBOLICAL    EARTH.  257 

The  object  of  God's  wmth  is  the  antichristian  sys- 
tem— [four  out  the  vials  of  the  nralh  of  God  upon  the 
earth. 

Earth,  it  has  been  shown  in  the  exposition  of  the 
second  seal,  hath,  in  common  language,  a  variety  of 
significations:  and  it  may  be  added  in  this  place,  that 

with  pure  and  shinimr  linen,  and  having  their  breasts  girded  with 
golden  girdlesy  to  denote  the  firmness,  dignify,  and  si>lendour,  with 
which  they  will  perform  this  dreadful  work;  see  chap.  i.  13,  And, 
that  it  Miight  appear  what  power  God's  ministers  have  with  him  over 
their  enemies,  and  that  the  work  which  these  angels  were  going 
about,  was  the  avenging  of  his  persecuted  servants,  one  of  the  four 
living  creatures — (But  lest  any  of  them  should,  through  unbelief, 
suppose  himself  incapable  of  such  an  honour,  the  Lord  has  not  in- 
formed us  whether  it  was  he  who  resembled  the  lion,  the  ox,  the 
man,  or  the  eagle)  gave  to  the  seven  angels  seven  vials,  that  is,  cen- 
sers, cups,  or  bottles,  full  of  the  wrath  of  God,  who  livcth  for  ever 
and  ever;  the  unchanging  enemy  of  every  impenitent  immortal, 
who  has  dared  to  take  up  arms  against  him  and  his  Christ,  chap. 
viii.  5.  So  David,  by  his  prayers,  gave  the  angels  those  vials  which 
they  poured  upon  his  enemies,  Psa.  xxxv.  5,  6.  and  Isaiah  and 
Hezekiah  gave  that  vial  to  the  angel,  which  he  poured  upon  the 
185,000  Assyrians,  Isa.  xxxvii.  And  when  these  vials  are  to  be 
poured  out,  God  wUl  put  it  into  the  heart  of  some  gospel  minister, 
or  of  a  set  of  jniriisters  of  similar  dispositions,  firmli/  to  believe,  and 
therefore  to  desire  of  God  by  prayer,  the  execution  of  this  vengeance; 
w  hich  may  properly  be  called  their  giving  the  vials  to  the  angels, 
though  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  these  angels  will  visibly 
appear  to  him  or  them,  when  they  are  going  about  this  work. 
God  bottles  the  tears  of  his  saints,  not  only  to  be  witnesses  of 
the  sincerity  of  their  love  to  him,  but  also  to  make  them  vials  of 
bis  wrath  on  the  heads  of  their  enemies,  Psa.  hi.  7.  For  shall 
not  God  avenge  his  own  elect,  who  cry  day  and  nighl  unto  him  ?  I  tell 
you  timt  he  will  avenge  them  speedily,  Luke  xviii.  7,  ?,.  as  he  pro- 
mised to  the  souls  under  the  altar,  chap.  vi.  10,  1 1."  Reader  on  the 
Prophecies  of  Revelation,  p.  217.  Lond.  177R. 
2  I 


258  ANTICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

the  New  Testament  employs  r>j,  the  word  rendered 
earth  in  this  text,  in  different  senses. 

There  is  no  difficulty,  however,  in  ascertaining  its 
use,  when  the  connexion  is  otherwise  easily  under- 
stood. Parkhurst,  in  his  Greek  and  English  Lexicon 
to  the  New  Testament,  gives  it  six  distinct  significa- 
tions, exclusively  of  the  symbolical — Ground,  whe- 
ther cultivated  or  barren ;  dry  land,  as  distinguished 
from  the  waters ;  a  particular  tract  or  country ;  the 
land  of  Canaan,  spiritually  denoting  heaven;  the  ter- 
raqueous globe,  as  distinguished  from  the  heavens;  and 
ground  in  general.  It  is  obvious,  that  however  nu- 
merous the  shades  of  difference  may  be,  there  is  no 
effort  in  ordinary  cases  necessary  to  decide  in  which 
sense  we  are  to  receive  this  word.  Upon  the  same 
principle,  the  shades  of  difference,  in  the  symbolical 
use  of  earth,  must  be  ascertained  from  the  context. 

The  earth,  which  is  the  object  of  all  the  vials, 
comprehends  the  earth,  the  sea,  the  fountains,  the 
sun,  the  seat  of  the  beast,  the  Euphrates,  and  the  air, 
which  are  the  several  distinct  objects  of  the  seven 
vials ;  and  although  the  word  earth,  in  both  the  first 
and  second  verses,  is  symbolical,  the  sense  of  the 
one  must  be  distinguished  from  that  of  the  other, 
in  the  first  instance,  it  is  obviously  the  symbol  of 
some  complete  system,  having,  in  allusion  to  the  system 
of  the  world,  its  land,  Avater,  sun,  and  atmosphere, 
&c.  In  the  second  instance  it  is  a  part  of  this  sys- 
tem— An  earth  within  the  earth,  and  the  one  clearly 
distinguished  from  the  other.  A  man  of  science  can 
readily  distinguish  in  the  same  earth,  through  which 
the  ploughman  digs  his  furrow,  not  only  earths  from 


THE    SV3IB0LICAL    EARTH.  259 

other  substances,  but  also  earth  from  earth :  and  it 
becomes  the  intelligent  expositor  of  prophecy  to 
distinguish  the  several  acceptations  of  symbolical  ex- 
pressions without  j)retending,  with  Mr.  Faber,  *  that 
the  same  symbol  always  points  out  the  same  definite 
object.  This  excellent  commentator  has  certainly 
fiiiled  as  much  as  IMr.  Galloway,  whose  five  signifi- 
cations of  the  word  earth,  he  rejects,  in  his  attempt 
to  fix,  as  he  says  himself,  with  remarkable  preeision, 
the  invariable  incanins^  of  the  symbol — tlie  "  territorial 
dominions  of  the  Roman  empire.'^ 

1  cannot  by  any  means  admit,  that  territory y  as 
such,  provokes  or  bears  the  wrath  of  God.  The 
ground  is  never  cursed  but  on  account  of  its  criminal 
occupant.  The  Roman  territory  is,  indeed,  the  re- 
sidence of  that  upon  which  the  plagues  of  the  vials 
are  inflicted:  but  the  formal  object  of  divine  ven- 
geance, is  that  pernicious  and  criminal  system  of 
social  order,  in  both  church  and  state,  which  is  esta- 
blished among  the  guilty  population  of  the  Roman 
territories.  This  great  public  immorality,  practised 
under  the  name  of  Clnistianity,  and  yet  diametrical- 
ly opposed  to  the  Spirit  and  power  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ,  is  what  brings  down  upon  its  votaries 
the  wrath  of  God.  It  is  this  system  in  all  its  com- 
plex, ecclesiastical,  and  political  machinery,  embra- 
cing the  inhabitants  of  the  western  Roman  world, 
that  is  symbolized  ])y  thf.  earth,!  and  is  called, 

I  allude  to  liis  note  of  criticism  on  I\rr.  Galloway,  Vol.  I.  p.  06, 

t  Earth  is  opposed  to  heaven.      The  anticluistiau  system  is, 

therefore,  a?  pro[»erly  designated  by  earth,  as  Christianity  is  hy  the 

f»Tm  hrarc'u     "  TIip  kmcrdom  of  rJod.""     "  ffip  kingdom  of  hea- 


260  *  ANTICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

from  its  true  character,  by  the  strictly  appropriate 
name, 

THE    ANTICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

It  includes,  the  beasts  of  the  pit,  of  the  sea,  and  of 
the  earth;  tlie  head,  the  horns,  the  image  of  the  beast; 
the  mother  of  harlots,  and  all  who  are  drunken  with 
the  cup  of  her  intoxication.  It  is  not  precisely  the 
emperor,  the  kings,  or  any  of  the  kings,  nor  the  peo- 
ple, nor  the  pope,  nor  the  Roman  church,  nor  the 
territorial  dominions  of  the  pope,  or  of  the  emperor ; 
but  it  is  all  these,  combined  by  a  corrupt  religion, 
embodied  with  despotic  power,  in  opposition  to  the 
public  social  order  which  Christianity  demands  of 
the  nations  of  the  world,  and  which  shall  be  actually 
established  in  the  millennium. 

That,  which  prevents  in  Europe  the  establishment 
of  the  millennial  system,  is  of  course  to  be  destroy- 
ed by  the  vials ;  because  the  vials  introduce  the  mil- 
lennium :  the  millennial  state  of  society  is  peculiar- 
ly the  kingdom  of  Christ;  and  whatsoever  is  op- 
posed to  the  coming  of  that  kingdom,  is  opposed  to 
himself,  and  is  of  course  antichristian ;  therefore  is 
the  immoral  organization  of  human  society,  which 
resists  the  principles  of  true  religion  in  church  and 

von,"  does  not  signify  the  territory  occupied  by  pious  men ;  but  the 
system  of  the  grace  of  God,  dispensed  to  men,  and  separating  tliem 
Irom  the  world,  by  reducing  them  into  a  church  state.  The  church 
of  God  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  because  its  origin  and  its  nature 
are  heavenly :  the  apposite  system  is  the  earth,  because  its  nature 
is  earthly,  carnal,  and  perishing. 


THF.    AVORD    ANTICHRIST.  261 

state,  justly  called  by  Avay  of  eminence,  the  anti- 
christ. This  consideration  justities  the  application 
of  the  term  aniichristiany  agreeable  to  the  practice 
of  the  reformers,  to  the  prominent  parts  of  that  sys- 
tem of  iniquity,  which  these  holy  men  were  in  the 
habits,  at  the  risk  of  their  lives,  of  opposing. 

It  is  the  design  of  this  discourse  to  explain  the 
term  antichrist,  and  accordingly  justify  this  applica- 
tion of  it — to  explain  from  other  parts  of  scripture 
the  nature  of  the  antichristian  system — and  to  ob- 
viate the  great  objection,  made  of  late,  to  this  pro- 
testant  use  of  the  expression. 

I.  Explain  the  term  antichrist,  and  justify  its  ap- 
plication to  the  Roman  tyranny  and  superstition. 

Had  Mr.  Faber  succeeded  much  better  than  he 
has  done,  in  fastening  upon  the  prophet  Daniel  the 
charge  of  predicting  the  rise  and  progress  of  his  own 
infidel  king^  he  had  no  right,  even  upon  this  hy- 
pothesis, to  apply  exclusively  to  France  the  anti- 
christ of  the  apostle  John,  and  so,  boldly  charge 
our  pious  reformers  with  the  misapplication  of  this 
remarkable  expression.  1  readily  admit  that  France, 
whetlier  republican  or  imperial  in  her  form  of  civil 
polity,  is  an  antichristian  power :  but  this  admission 
does  not,  by  any  means,  preclude  the  propriety  of 
applying  the  same  epithet  to  other  powers  hostile  to 
the  kingdom  of  Messiah;  nor  does  it  even  require  its 
application  by  way  of  eminence  to  a  system  which, 
however  vile,  cannot  endure  more  than  sixty  year?. 


262  AATICHRISTIAW    SYSTEiM. 

and  which  is  confessedly  more  destructive  to  the  ene- 
mies of  the  gospel  than  to  true  believers.  This  is  the 
case  with  modern  France,  its  principal  enemies  being 
judges.  It  is  admitted  by  Mr.  Faber  himself,  al- 
though he  denounces  Buonaparte  and  revolutionary 
France  as  the  antichrist,  that  they  perish  before 
1866.* 

We  ought  to  take  it  as  an  indisputable  fact,  that 
the  most  formidable  opposition,  which  is  ever  made 
under  the  Christian  name,  to  true  religion,  is  the  an- 
tichrist ;  because  this  idea  is  admitted  in  all  its  force 
by  the  apostle  John  himself.  1  John  2.  Ve  have 
heard  that  antichrist  shall  come — rvhereby  we  know  that 
it  is  the  LAST  time.  From  these  words  it  appears 
lliat  antichrist  w  as  familiarly  expected  to  appear  un- 
der the  gospel  dispensation  the  last  time.  It  is  also 
apparent  that  this  expectation  was  general  among 
Christians  in  the  age  of  the  apostles.  Now  it  is  to 
me  altogether  incredible  that  this  should  be  the  case 
if  the  antichrist  be  revolutionary  FrancCy  as  distin- 
guished from  the  great  and  prevalent  superstitions 
and  tyrannies  of  the  European  nations.  A  thing  so 
remote  from  that  age;  of  so  very  short  continu- 
ance ;  of  so  very  little  interest  in  itself  to  the  best 
and  purest  churches  in  any  age ;  and  which  is  con- 
fessedly a  w^o  to  the  enemies  of  the  true  religion, — 
such  a  tiling:,  however  vile  in  itself,  could  not  excite 
such  universal  expectations ;  nor  be  at  all  so  very 

In  tloiug  this,  he  acts  more  as  an  Englishman  than  as  an  ex- 
positor of  proj)hecy.  We  give  more  credit  to  him  for  his  patriot- 
ism than  for  his  orthodoxy. 


THE  WORD   ANTICHRIST.  263 

iiiteresliiig  to  the  primitive  rhurcli  as  to  occupy  her 
principal  attention.  We  liave  the  testimony  of  Je- 
rome too,  in  proof  of  this  striking  fact,  that  such 
expectation  continued  general  among  Christiana 
down  to  his  own  time,  and  that  it  was  supported  by 
the  prophecies  of  Daniel,  as  well  as  the  writings  of 
the  New  Testament.* 

Antichrist 

Signifies  an  opposite  Christ,  from  otvrt,  against,  and 
X^ifof,  Christ.  «>  Ayiti^^i^o?,  the  opposer  of  Christ,  un- 
der pretence  of  being  himself  appointed  or  anointed 
of  the  Lord.  Thus,  the  grand  opposition  to  the  Chris- 
tian system  is  personified  according  to  the  prophetic 
style  of  king,  horn,  beast,  kc.  for  kingdom,  power, 
empire.  In  this  sense,  the  antichrist  is  generally 
understood  by  all  writers,  and  while  agreeably  to  the 
apostle  John's  declaration,  1  John  ii.  18.  there  are 
many  antichrists^  many  opposers  of  Christ,  it  is  not 
doubted  that  propliecy  directs  to  one  great  system 
of  opposition  which  should  arise  under  the  Christian 
dispensation,  as  pointed  out  by  this  name. 

'  Jerome  Hicronymus  flourished  in  the  fourth  century,  and  is 
universally  esteemed  as  one  of  the  most  learned  and  judicious  of 
the  Valhers.  He  hath  these  words  on  the  celebrated  passage, 
Dan.  xi.  36. 

Ab  hoc  loco,  Judaei  dici  de  antichristo  putant — quod  quidem  et 
1103  de  antichristo  intelligimus.  Porphyrius  autem  et  cacteri  qui 
sequuntur  eum,  de  Antiocho  Epiphane  dici  arhitrantur. — Quae  uni- 
versa  in  typo  anlichristi,  nostri  praDcessisse  contendunt;  qui  sessu- 
rus  est  in  teraplo  Dei,  et  se  facturus  ut  Deum.  Hieron.  Col. 
1129—113]. 


2^4  ArvTICHRISTIAi\    SYSTEM. 

Different  opinions  of  Antichrist. 

1.  The  Jewish  nation.     Dr.   Whithy's  opinion. 

2.  The  Gnostics  and  their  successors.  Dr.  Hammond's. 

3.  Heathen  Rome.   BossueVs,  and  other  papists. 

r  Nero,  Trajan,  Louis  XIV. 
Oliver    Cromwelly   King 

4.  Individual  persons.    <i       ^'^''^^    '''-    ^>«^^«'^ 

Buonaparte,  SCc.  are  in 

turn  said  to  be  antichrist 

by  their  opponents. 

.').  The  Papacy.     General  opinion  of  protectants. 

6.  The  present  French  empire.     Fahers. 

Besides  these,  twenty  different  opinions  might  be 
collected  from  those  fanciful  writers,  who  very  im- 
properly amuse  themselves,  by  inventing  theories,  at 
the  expense  of  important,  and  even  awful  truths. 
It  appears  to  me,  that  expositors  generally,  have 
taken  antichrist  in  a  view,  rather  too  much  insulated. 
Instead  of  exhibiting  a  single  adversary,  or  any 
one  branch  of  the  great  apostacy,  the  word  is  to  be 
taken  in  a  more  generic  sense,  as  descriptive  of  that 
long-enduring  hostility  to  religion,  which  has  hitherto 
passed  among  the  nations  for  Christianity  itself 

This  word  (AvT/;^^<5-of)  occurs  in  four  different 
places  in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  used  only  in 
the  epistolary  writings  of  the  apostle  John.  Those 
epistles  were  written  within  a  few  years  of  the  end 
of  the  first  century,  about  60  years  after  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Christian  church,  and  20  after  the- 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  bv  the  Romans. 


TKK    WOHl)    WTICHHIST.  265 

It  siiinifios  one  who  is  opposed  to  Christ,  and  is, 
in  its  gonrral  sense,  applicahle  to  any  enemy  of  the 
lledeenier.  The  passages  in  which  it  occurs,  are 
1  John  ii.  18.  and  22.  ch'ap.  iv.  .).  and  2  John  7. 
From  these  verses,  it  appears  tliat  this  name  was  in- 
tended as  an  especial  designation  of  some  noted  op- 
position to  the  gospel.  Tlie  Christian  ciiurcli,  about 
the  time  in  whicli  these  epistles  of  John  were  writ- 
ten, certairdy  understood  by  "the  antichrist"  («  Avti- 
;t^/fo;)  some  character,  revealed  in  prophecy,  as  the 
j^incipal  opponent  of  Christ's  kingdom. 

1  .John  ii.  18.  LUllc  rhi/drcn,  it  is  the  last  time: 
find  as  i/c  have  hiard  thai  atUiclirist  shall  come^  even 
noiv  are  there  main/  antichrists;  ivhereby  we  know  that 
if  is  the  last  time.  In  this  verse,  the  word  occurs 
twice;  once  in  the  singular,  and  once  in  the  plural 
number.  The  apostle  asserts  a  fact — it  is  the  last 
time.  He  appeals  in  confirmation  of  this  asseilion 
to  a  prophecy  tlrat  in  the  last  times  such  a  character 
shoultl  appear,  and  to  the  fact  that  such  characters 
did  now  appear — Wherehi)  we  know  thed  it  is  the  last 
time.  But,  if  the  church  had  not  previously  receiv- 
ed undoubted  infonnation  that  a  particular  kind  of 
hostility,  designated  by  this  term,  would  have  been 
oflered  to  the  gospel  at  the  last  dispensation,  which 
the  Redeemer  should  make  of  his  grace,  it  could  not 
have  been  inferred,  from  the  appearance  of  opposi- 
tion, that  these  times  were  now  arrived.  AVe  must 
tlieiefore  conclude  from  this  text,  that  the  Christian 
church  had  actually  received  information  that  a  cer- 
tain species  of  opposition  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
would  be  ofr<»red,  after  the  gospel  dispensation  had 
2  K 


266  AATICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

commenced ;  and  that  several  instances  of  a  similar 
kind  of  opposition  had  really  appeared,  before  the 
canon  of  scripture  was  completed,  and  before  all 
the  apostles  had  been  removed  from  the  earth. 
There  are  now  many  antichrists.  Several  character* 
already  appear  opposed  to  the  true  religion,  of  the 
same  description  with  that  character  who  is  known 
as  the  antichrist,  by  way  of  eminence. 

Yerse  22.  He  is  antichrist  that  dcnicth  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  The  venerable  apostle  declares  in  the 
context,  that  every  error  is  opposed  to  the  true  reli- 
gion, "that  no  lie  is  of  the  truth;''  and,  in  the  be- 
ofinning  of  this  verse,  he  asserts,  that  he  who  denieth 
Christ  is  a  liar,  in  the  most  awful  sense  of  the  word. 
TVho  is  a  liary  hut  he  that  denieth  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ  /  Christ,  or  Messiah,  which  is  the  same  word, 
(the  former  Greek,  and  the  latter  Hebrew,)  signifies 
anointed,  and  is  of  course  expressive  of  the  charac- 
ter and  office  of  the  Saviour.  An  assertion  of  er- 
roneous sentiments,  therefore,  respecting  the  official 
character  and  works  of  the  blessed  Redeemer,  is  the 
w^orst  species  of  falsehood;  and  that  character  which 
thus  denies  the  Father  and  the  Son,  is  the  anti- 
christ. This  also  shows,  that  the  church  must  have 
then  known  that  the  term  antichrist  designated  the 
head  of  the  most  formidable  opposition  which  the 
gospel  had  to  encounter. 

Chap.  iv.  3.  Every  spirit  thai  confesstth  not  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is  not  of  God:  and  this 
is  that  Spirit  of  antichrist,  whereof  ye  have  heard  that 
it  should  come,  and  even  now  already  is  it  in  the  world. 

A  good  spirit  is  of  God,  and  an  evil  spirit  is  that 
which  is  not  of  him.     Trying  the  spirits  is  a  neces- 


'4'HE    WORD   ANTICHRIST.  267 

sary  duty,  verse  1.  and  the  reason  is  assigned,  be- 
cause there  are  many  false  pr()i)hets.  The  criterion 
is  given  in  tlie  second  verse — "  Every  Spirit  that  con- 
fesseth  tiial  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is  of 
God."  This  expression,  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the 
fleshy  means  sometiiing  more  than  that  a  {)erson,  by 
that  name,  appeared  in  Judea.  The  expression  com- 
prehends the  doctrine  of  his  person,  of  his  oflice,  and 
of  his  works,  as  our  Redeemer.  Otherwise  it  couhl 
be  no  criterion.  False  prophets,  as  well  as  the  true, 
might  acknowledge  the  fad,  that  there  was  such  a 
man  as  Christ  .Tesus.  The  evil  spirits  which  he  drove 
out  of  those  who  were  possessed,  acknowledged  his 
power  when  he  appeared  in  the  flesh.  Matt.  viii.  29. 
"  .Tesus,  thou  Son  of  God,  art  thou  come  hither  to 
torment  us  ?"  This  text  is  to  be  understood,  there- 
fore, as  implying  more  than  what  the  words  appear 
to  express.  By  this  rule  similar  texts  are  explained. 
Acts  ii.  2] .  "  AVhosoever  shall  call  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  saved."  That  is,  whosoever  shall  wor- 
ship him  in  faith.  For  "  he  who  believeth  not  shall 
be  damned,"  Matt.  xvi.  16.  Every  spirit,  therefore, 
which  confesseth  not  the  truth,  respecting  Christ's 
person  and  mission, — his  whole  mediatory  character, 
is  evil :  and  this  is  that  spirit  of  antichrist. 

The  apostle  John  also  appeals,  in  this  passage,  to 
the  prophetic  Revelation,  which  predicted  to  the 
church  the  coming  of  this  enemy —  Whereof  ye  hetve 
heard  that  it  should  come ;  and  also  to  the  information 
which  tliey  had  received  of  his  actual  appearance, — 
and  even  now  already  is  it  in  the  norld. 

The  conclusion  from  this  passage  of  course  is,  tliai 
the  church  expected  opjwsition  from  an  enen)y  desig- 


2b8  AISTlCHRIbTIAIN    SYSTEM. 

naied  by  the  name  antichrist;  and  Ibat  the  spirit 
which  antichrist  possesses,  would  be  opposed  to  the 
truth,  respecting  both  the  mediatorial  character,  and 
the  object  of  his  appearing  in  the  flesh;  together  with 
the  fact,  that  such  a  spirit  began  already  to  appear  in 
the  world.  This  conclusion  is  confirmed  by  2  John 
verse  7.  For  many  deceivers  are  entered  into  the  norld, 
who  confess  not  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  Jlesh. 
This  is  a  deceiver  and  an  antichrist.  To  \vhat  system 
of  deception,  can  we,  with  so  nmch  propriety,  apply 
this  designation,  as  to  the  great  Roman  apostacy, 
which    affected    nearly  the  whole  civilized  world? 

We  shall  afterwards  incjuire,  to  what  prophecy  the 
apostle  .John  refers  the  church  in  these  passages  \  and 
so  endeavour  to  ascertain  that  character,  to  Avhom  the 
title  antichrist  especially  belongs. 

It  has  already  been  observed,  that  the  word  does 
not  occur  any  where  in  scripture,  except  in  the  texts 
already  quoted ;  and  that  it  designates  some  charac- 
ter, the  most  conspicuous  opposer  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus.  From  the  use  the  apostle  John  makes  of  this 
expression,  it  appears  that  it  w^as  familiar  to  those 
whom  he  addressed.  It  is  not,  however,  certain,  by 
what  means  it  became  so.  Whether  it  was  first  ap- 
plied by  an  inspired  teacher  to  the  grand  apostacy 
which  was  expected  in  some  future  period,  or  whe- 
ther the  term  was  at  first  adopted  as  applicable  of 
every  one  who  opposed  the  gospel,  and  according  to 
the  common  progress  of  language,  became  at  last  by 
usage  appropriate  to  the  most  remarkable  opposition 
offered  to  the  church,  we  cannot  now  determine.  It 
is,  however,  certain,  that  the  prophets  foretold  this 
remarkable  opposition  to  the  Christian  church ;  and 


CHARACTER    OF    ANTICHRIST,  269 

that,    at   a  very  early  j^eriod,   this  opposition  was 
known  by  the  name  antichrist. 

In  order  to  answer  the  question,  Who  is  the  anti- 
christ ?  it  will  be  necessary  to  quote  some  of  the 
proj)hecies  which  predict  opposition  to  the  gospel, 
and  compare  them  with  those  texts  already  quoted, 
iji  which  this  term  is  used.     This  will  lead  me, 

II.  To  explain  from  other  parts  of  scripture,  the 
nature  of  the  antichristian  si/stem, 

I  shall  confine  my  selection  to  the  writings  of  Paul 
and  Daniel :  and  shall  begin  with  the  New  Tesla- 
ment  authority,  as  being  more  contiguous  to  the 
time  in  which  the  epistles  of  John  were  written. 
Two  passages  will  suffice. 

1.  I  shall  lay  before  you  the  words  of  the  apostle, 
to  a  church  which  he  had  himself  planted  and  watered, 
and  in  which  he  appeals  to  the  information  which 
he  had  previously  communicated  in  his  discourses. 
2  Thess.  ii.  3 — 9.  That  day  shall  not  come  except 
there  come  a  falling  away  first,  and  that  man  of  sin  be 
revealed,  the  son  of  perdition,  nho  opposeth  and  exalt- 
eth  himself  above  all  thai  is  cedled  God,  or  thed  is  ivor- 
shipped;  so  that  he,  as  God,  sittcth  in  the  temple  of 
God,  shoning  himself  that  he  is  God.  Bemember  ye  not^ 
that  jvhen  I  ?vas  yet  with  you,  I  told  you  these  things  ? 
And  now  ye  know  what  wilhholdefh,  that  he  might  be 
revealed  in  his  time.  For  the  mystery  of  iniquity  doth 
already  work :  only  he  who  now  letteth  will  let,  until  he 
be  taken  out  of  the  way :  and  then  shall  that  wicked  be 
revealed,  whom  the  Lord  shall  consume  with  the  Spirit 


270  ANTICHIIISTIAN    SYPTEM. 

of  his  month,  and  shall  deslroy  with  the  brightness  of 
his  coining:  even  him  whose  coming  is  after  the  work- 
ing of  Satan,  with  all  power,  and  signs,  and  lying 
wonders,  SCc.  Si'c. 

This  epistle  was  Avritten  about  the  year  56,  and 
Ihe  epistles  of  John  about  tlie  year  90.  Before  the 
latter  writer,  therefore,  described  THE  ANTI- 
CHRIST, he  must  have  been  familiar  with  the  man 
OF  SIN,  described  in  the  writings  of  a  fellow-labourer 
in  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel.  There  is  no  doubt  of 
his  having  the  epistles  of  Paul  in  his  possession 
thirty  years  before  he  wrote  his  own  epistles. 

John's  antichrists  had  already  be^un  to  appear; 
and  Paul's  mystery  of  iniquity  had  already  begun  to 
work.  Of  the  coming  of  John's  antichrist  they  had 
heard  before ;  and  of  Paul's  man  of  sin,  he  had  himself 
formerly  told  them  many  things.  John's  antichrist, 
with  a  spirit  of  falsehood  and  deceit,  denied  both  the 
Father  and  the  Son :  and  Paul's  man  of  sin,  coming 
Avith  signs  and  lyittg  wonders,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of 
God,  and  exalleth  himself  above  all  that  is  called  God, 
and  that  is  worshipped.  The  character  which  John 
describes  is  eminently  the  opposite  Christ,  (o  Avt<- 
;^^<s-of ;)  and  that  which  Paul  describes,  sitteth  in  the 
temple,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God.  Are  not  then, 
these  characters  identified  ?  Could  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians do  otherwise  than  consider  them  one  and  the 
same  opposition  to  Christ  and  his  cause  upon  earth  ? 
It  is  no  objection  to  this  sentiment,  that  .John's  anti- 
christ denies  that  Christ  has  come  in  the  flesh;  for  he 
wlio  is  opposed  to  all  that  is  worshipped^  and  as  God  sit- 
teth in  the  temple  of  God,  so  far  from  doing  less,  does 
much  more  than  this.     And,  as  for  infidelity,  we  shall 


ITS    CHARACTER.  271 

Ond  to  the  full  as  many  iufuiels  on  the  papal  chair, 
and  on  the  thrones  of  Europe,  as  have  appeared  at 
the  head  of  aUiiirs  in  revolulionary  France. 

1  do  not  prop()iK_'  to  you  a  coninientary  on  this  pas- 
sage from  the  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians.  It  is 
taken  for  iijranted  that  it  applies  to  the  Roman  system 
of  superstition.  Mr.  Faber  admits  this,  and  bishop 
Newton  has  an  excellent,  dissertation  on  the  text. 
A  wicked  apostacy,  coming  after  the  working  of 
Satan,  witli  deceit,  and  false  miracles;  usurping 
power  in  the  Christian  church  to  so  great  a  degree 
as  to  claim  titles  and  honours  due  only  unto  God; 
and  making  use  of  that  power  in  opposition  to  the 
only  object  of  religious  worshij),  and  for  the  corrup- 
tion of  Christianity  among  the  nations,  cannot  apply 
in  full  to  any  object  which  excludes  the  system  of 
Roman  iniquity.  This  system  personified,  is  tire  son 
of  perdition,  who  betrayed  the  Lord,  as  did  Judas  Is- 
cariot.  It  is  the  mystery  of  iniquity,  which  began 
early  to  work  in  the  unhallowed  ambition  of  worldly- 
minded  ecclesiastics ;  in  the  superstition  of  ignorant 
minds,  who  from  other  causes  than  a  saving  know- 
ledge of  the  truth,  made  a  profession  of  Christianity; 
and  in  the  industrious  efforts  of  public  men  in  office, 
throughout  the  departments  of  the  Roman  empire, 
to  make  religion  an  instrument  of  political  power. 
But  to  the  establishment  of  this  mystery  of  iniquity, 
on  the  throne  of  the  fourth  kingdom  of  the  earth, 
there  was  an  insuperable  barrier,  while  Pagani>im 
remained  in  full  force.  This  obvious  consideration 
the  apostle  Paul  had  explained  to  the  Thessalonians. 
Ye  know  iihat  nUhholdctli,  thai  the  man  of  sin  be  re- 
rralcil.     It  is  heathen  power  that  lettethy  and  ivill  let. 


272  AMICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

till  he  he  taken  out  of  the  way.  Then  when  the  em- 
pire becomes  Christian,  this  impediment  shall  be  re- 
moved. After  this  cometh  the  apostacy,  that  wicked 
whom  the  Lord  shall  consume. 

This  prophecy  both  explains  the  character  of  the 
antichrist  of  John,  and  sliows  the  propriety  of  ap- 
plying that  name  to  the  grand  apostacij  of  the  west- 
ern empire.* 

2.  1  shall,  in  confirmation  of  this  interpretation  of 
the  antichrist,  lay  before  you  the  words  of  the  apos- 
tle Paul  to  his  son  Timothy,  in  which  he  contrasts 
the  mysltry  of  iniquity,  which  he  had  described  to 
the  Thessalonian3,  with  the  mystery  of  godliness y  de- 
scribed to  Timothy  at  the  close  of  the  third  chapter. 

1  Tim.  iv.  1 — 3.  Now  the  Spirit  speakelh  expressly, 
that  in  the  latter  times  some  shall  depart  from  the  faith, 
giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits,  and  doctrines  of  devils: 
speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy;  having  their  conscience  sear- 
ed with  a  hot  iron;  forbidding  to  marry,  and  command- 
ing to  abstain  from  meats,  Sfc.  This  epistle  was  writ- 
ten about  the  year  60,  four  years  after  the  date  of 
that  which  was  addressed  to  the  Christians  of  Thessa- 
lonica,  and  about  30  years  earlier  than  the  epistles 
of  John  the  divine.  Here  also  there  is  intimation  of 
a  great  apostacy,  which  shall  take  place  in  the  latter 
times, 

Jn  writing  to  Timothy,  Paul  would  not  forget  that 
(he  evangelist  had  been  previously  acquainted  with 
what  the  apostle  had  taught  concerning  the  mystery 
OF  INIQUITY,  both  in  his  discourses  and  his  writings. 

■  See  a  plain  ami  correct  commeiitary  on  2  Tliess.  ii.  3-— 9.  in 
Scofs  Family  Bible. 


IDENTIFIED   WITH    THE    ROMAN   APOSTACY.       273 

In  tlie  epistle  containiuo;  the  ieniarkal)le  passage, 
recently  under  consideration,  Timothy ,  as  well  as 
Sylvanus,  had  joined  with  the  apostle  Paul,  and  could 
not  of  course  be  ignorant  of  the  i^recU  aposlacy, 
which  is  described  as  opposing  God  and  the  pure 
worship  of  his  holy  name.  Admitting,  therefore, 
that  Timothy  previously  knew  of  the  Roman  apos- 
tacy,  which  the  apostle  calls  the  man  of  sin,  and  soil 
of  perdition,  nliose  com  ins;  is  after  the  working  of  Sa- 
twiy  with  all  dcceivableness  of  unrighteousness,  is  it  pos- 
sible that  he  should  misunderstand  the  words  of  Paul 
to  himself,  or  ever  think  of  applying  them  to  a  dif- 
ferent object  ? 

In  the  first  verse,  the  apostle  affirms  this  fact  to  be 
a  matter  of  divine  prediction — the  Spirit  speaketh 
expressly.  He  then  assures  us  that  this  event — the 
same  with  that  designated  as  the  man  of  sin,  oc- 
cupies the  same  period — in  the  latter  times:  he  de- 
scribes this  event  in  each  place  by  the  same  terms— 
a  falling  away  .*  he  assigns  the  same  cause  for  the 
event  in  both  places — the  working  of  Satan,  or  se- 
ducing spirits :  he  gives  to  it,  in  both  cases  the  same 
moral  character — all  dcceivableness  of  unrighteousness ^ 
and  strong  delusion,  speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy,  and 
having  the  conscience  seared  :\  and  in  addition  to  the 
extraordinary  characteristic  of  usurping  in  the  very 
temple  itself  divine  honour,  in  order  more  effectual- 
ly under  the  mask  of  Christianity  to  oppose  the 
worship  and  the  God  of  the  Christians,  the  apostle 

■   'H  AtotIxfiu,  2  Thess.  ii.  3.      Awec-7)}c-«v7*',  1  Tim.  iv.  1. 
t  The  moral  and  religious  character  of  this  period  ia  also  dp- 
?r.rihp(l,  2  Tim.  iii.  1 — 5. 

2  L 


274  ANTICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM, 

Paul  gives  another  pointed  and  distinctive  feature  of 
the  same  system  of  abomination  in  this  passage — 
forbidding  to  marry ^  and  commanding  to  abstain  from 
meats.  Here  we  have  a  prediction  of  the  laws  of  celi- 
bacy, nunneries,  and  monasteries,  as  well  as  of  the 
superstitious  abstinence  of  Lent  and  other  holydays- 

While  I  refer  the  reader  for  a  more  copious  expo- 
sition of  this  text  to  the  common  Commentaries,  and 
particularly  to  Mr.  Mede  and  bishop  Newton,  I  pro- 
ceed to  observe  that  John  the  divine,  when  he  drew 
the  character  of  his  antichrist  had  this  apostacy  be- 
fore him.  We  have  shown  the  coincidence  of  the 
passage  from  1  John,  with  that  from  2  Thessalonians, 
and  the  coincidence  of  the  latter  with  that  from 
1  Timothy:  the  passage  from  1  Timothy  must  of 
course,  coincide  with  that  from  the  epistles  of  John. 

John's  antichrist  was  the  subject  of  scripture  pre- 
dictions already  in  the  possession  of  the  church;  and 
of  this  apostacy  the  Spirit  of  God  had  already  spoken 
expressly.  Antichrist  was  to  appear  in  the  last 
times ;  and  so  was  this.  The  antichrist  of  John,  as 
his  name  imports,  is  an  opposite  religion,  denying 
the  doctrine  of  the  Father  and  his  Son  Jesus  Christ; 
and  this  apostacy  is  a  departure  from  the  faith  with  a 
seared  conscience,  substituting  the  doctrines  ofdevilsy* 
in  its  stead.  Who  is  a  liar;  but  the  antichrist  of  John? 
This  man  of  sin  also,  speaketh  lies  in  hypocrisy. 

*  Docfriufi^  of  Devils.  A<(5«5-y,aA<a<?  Axif*oytuv.  The  doctrines 
oi  the  church  of  Rome,  are  in  this  passage  denominated  doctrines  ol 
devils,  not  because  they  are  from  the  great  adversary  of  our  salva 
lion,  but  because  they  introduce  the  worship  of  demons  instead  ol 
the  worship  of  God :  doctrines  relating  to  the  worship  of  demons. 
Sxii4.eviev  is  from  A»iin.6fv,  and  that  from  Axic^r,  or  pT  to  fmow,     A 


IDENTIFIED    WITH    DANIEL  j?    KING.  21  i} 

3.  I  shall  quote  in  this  connexion  one  passage  from 
die  prophecies  of  Daniel:  and  1  sliali  previously  call 
your  recollection  to  this  fact,  that  the  book  of  Daniel 
was  both  well  known  and  well  understood  by  the 
apostle  Paul  when  he  addressed  his  epistles  to  the 
church  of  Thessalonica,  and  to  Timothy  the  evan- 
gelist. In  order  that  the  coincidence  of  expressions 
may  appear  more  obvious,  1  shall  compare  them  with 
one  another  in  parallel  columns. 

great  part  of  the  lieathen  idolatry  consisted  in  the  worship  of  de- 
mons, and  their  doctrines  of  religion  were,  of  course,  doctrines 
which  respected  these  objects  of  their  worship.  This  ex[>lains  the 
expression,  doctrines  of  (Iciils. 

Plato  explains  the  doctrine.  "  Every  demon  is  a  middle  being 
between  God  and  man.  All  the  commerce  and  intercourse  be- 
tween gods  and  men  is  performed  by  the  mediation  of  demons. 
Demons  are  reporters  and  carriers  from  men  to  the  gods,  and  again 
from  the  gods  to  men,  of  the  supplications  and  prayers  of  the  one, 
and  of  the  injunctions  and  rewards  of  devotion  from  the  other." 
See  ParkhursVs  Lexicon. 

The  doctrine  of  demons,  as  explained  by  so  distinguished  a  phi- 
losopher, serves  to  throw  light  upon  those  parts  of  scripture,  which 
represent  the  heathen  as  worshipping  devils.  This  is  the  scriptural 
account  of  their  sacrifices  in  every  age  from  Moses  to  Paul.  Deut. 
xxxii.  17.  Th^y  sacrificed  unto  devils,  not  to  God.  1  Cor.  x.  20. 
But  I  say  that  the  things  which  the  Gentiles  sacrifice,  they  sacrifice  to 
devils,  and  not  to  God:  and  I  would  not  that  ye  shotdd  have  fellow- 
ship with  devils. 

The  question  will  naturally  occur,  Where  did  the  heathen  find 
these  mediators,  their  demons,  whom  they  worshipped  ?  They  an- 
swer this  question  themselves.  Plato  says,  and  in  this  he  confirms 
what  Hesiod  had  said  before  him,  "  When  good  men  die,  they  attain 
great  honoiir  and  dignity,  and  become  demons."'  They  dcifud,  or 
canonized,  men  after  death.  This  abundantly  shows  tlie  applica- 
bility of  this  prophecy  to  that  system  of  religion  which  canonizes 
the  dead,  that  they  may  be  honoured  by  f lie  jivini^  as  mediator*  be- 
tween them  and  the  Most  Hiirb. 


276 


AIVTICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 


Daniel  xi.  86 — 3o. 

^  36.  And  the  king  shall 
do  according  to  his  will, 
and  he  shall  exalt  himself, 
and  magnify  himself  above 
every  god,  and  shall  speak 
marvellous  things  against 
the  God  of  gods,  and  shall 
prosper  till  the  indigna- 
tion shall  be  accomplish- 
ed :  for  that  that  is  deter- 
mined shall  be  done. 


37.  Neither  shall  he  re- 
gard the  God  of  bis  fa- 
thers, nor  the  desire  of 
women,  nor  regard  any 
god :  for  he  shall  magnify 
himself  above  all. 


38.  But  in  his  estate 
shall  he  honour  the  God 
of  forces;  and  a  God 
whom  his  fathers  knew  not 
shall  he  honour  with  gold, 
and  silver,  and  with  pre- 
cious stones,  and  pleasant 
things. 


Paul's  wordi 


2Thc3s.ii.3— 10. 


(  2  Tl: 
1  '  'i'' 


im,  IV.  1 — 3. 

— ^That  man  of  sin— the 
son  of  perdition,  who  op- 
poseth  and  exalteth  him- 
self above  all  that  is  call- 
ed God,  or  that  is  wor- 
shipped; so  that  he  as 
God,  sitteth  in  the  temple 
of  God,  showing  himself 
that  he  is  God — the  mys- 
tery of  iniquity  doth  al- 
ready work — and  then 
shall  that  wicked  be  re- 
vealed, whom  the  Lord 
shall  consume  with  the 
spirit  of  his  mouth,  &c. 

— Whose  coming  is  after 
the  working  of  Satan,  with 
all  power,  and  signs,  and 
lying  wonders — forbid- 
ding to  maiTy,  and  com- 
manding to  abstain  from 
meats,  which  God  hath 
created  to  be  received. 

— Giving  heed  to  se- 
ducing spirits,  and  doc- 
trines of  devils,  speaking 
lies  in  hypocrisy — and 
with  all  deceivableness  of 
unrighteousness  in   them 


that  perish. 


DANIF.l/s    KINU.  277 

Nothing  short  of  a  ibndness  for  preconceived 
opinions  could  induce  any  attentive  reader"  of  these 
(|uotalions  to  deny  their  application  to  one  great  sys- 
tem of  iniquity. 

The  prophecy  of  Daniel  is  the  first  in  order,  and 
is  more  definite  than  those  which  follow.  The  apos- 
tles Paul  and  .Tohn,  proceed  upon  the  supposition 
that  the  object  is  specifically  pointed  out  already, 
and  refer  to  it  only  with  design  to  keep  alive  the  at- 
tention of  the  church  to  it,  and  to  prevent  misunder- 
standing of  its  character. 

In  the  second  and  seventh  choplers  of  Daniel,  we 
are  furnished  with  a  chronological  account  of  the 
four  universal  empires,  and  of  the  dismemberment  of 
the  fourth,  the  Roman,  into  ten  separate  kingdoms. 
After  this  dismemberment,  the  Roman  empire  is  still 
contemplated  as  one,  being  bound  as  to  its  several 
distinct  members  into  one  system  of  cruel  opposition  to 
the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  destined  to  continue  in 
this  character  until  the  Avay  is  prepared  for  the 
coming  of  the  millennium. 

In  this  chapter,  that  prophet  gives  such  a  minute 
prospective  history  of  the  Persian  and  Macedonian 
empires,  with  a  comprehensive  account  of  the  af- 
fairs of  the  kings  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  until  the  es- 
tablishment of  Roman  power  in  the  east,  that  infidel 
writers,  admitting  the  accuracy  of  the  ])rophecy, 
have  been  compelled,  rather  than  acknowledge  the- 
insphation  of  the  scriptures,  to  afiirm  that  Daniel's 
prophecies  were  composed  after  the  events  came  to 
pass.* 

*  '•  The  prophecies  of  DauicI  were  in  many  instances  so  ex- 
actly accon1|)!i^h^f'.  that  fho-rf  prr?onfl  who  wdithl  hare  otherwise 


278  AMICHRISTJAN    SYSTEM. 

After  having  introduced  to  our  view,  the  Roman 
power,  comnlanding  Anliochvs  Epiphanes  to  retire 
froM)  Egypt,  and  at  the  same  tune  conquering  the 
kingdom  of  Macedon,  the  fundamental  kingdom  of 
the  Greek  empire,  Daniel  ceases  to  describe  the 
events  of  the  third  heasty  because  his  reign  is  now 
terminated.  He  begins,  of  course,  in  the  31st  verse 
to  predict  the  actions  of  the  fourth  beast,  and  con- 
tinues that  description  until  the  era  of  his  entire 
overthrow,  preparatory  to  the  establishment  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  in  its  millennial  splendour. 

"  Hitherto,"  said  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  "  Daniel  de- 
scribed the  actions  of  the  kings  of  the  north  and 
south  y  but  upon  the  conquest  of  Macedon  by  the 
Romans,  he  left  off  describing  the  actions  of  the 
Greeks,  and  began  to  describe  those  of  the  Ro- 
mans."* Jerome  informs  us,  that  the  Jews  them- 
selves understood  the  predictions  of  the  31st  verse, 
to  point  out  the  Roman  power,  after  the  time  of 

been  unable  to  resist  the  eviilence  which  they  furnished  in  support 
of  our  religion,  have  not  scrupled  to  affirm,  that  they  must  have 
been  written  subsequent  to  these  occurrences,  which  they  so  faith- 
fully describe.  But  this  groundless  and  unsupported  assertion  of 
Porphyry,  Avho  in  the  tl)ird  century  wrote  against  Christianity, 
scn-es  but  to  establish  the  character  of  Daniel  as  a  great  and  en- 
lightened prophet ;  and  Porphyry,  by  confessing  and  j)roving  from 
the  best  historians,  that  all  which  is  included  in  the  eleventh  chapter 
of  Daniel,  relative  to  the  kings  of  the  north  and  of  the  south,  of 
Syria  and  of  E^ypi,  was  truly,  and  in  every  particular,  acted  and 
done  in  the  order  there  related,  has  undesignedly  contributed  to  the 
reputation  of  those  prophesies,  of  which  he  attempted  to  destroy 
the  autiienticity."  Gray's  Key  to  tlw  Old  Testaincnl,  p.  338, 
Dublin,  1792. 

'  Observations  on  Daniel,  p.  133,     Dublin,  1733. 


DANIELS    KING.  '2i\) 

Antiochus,  and  before  the  comiiii^  of  antichrist.*  In 
the  follow iiii^  siunniary,  Mr.  Faber  gives  the  contents 
of  verses  31 — 3.'}.  "  To  state  the  whole  argument 
more  brieHy ;  the  events  succeed  each  other  in  the 
following  order.  In  the  31st  verse  of  the  xitli  chap- 
ter, Daniel  predicts  the  desolation  of  Jerusalem  by 
the  Romans:  in  tlie  32d  and  33d  verses  the  persecu- 
tions of  the  primitive  Christians:  in  the  34th  verse, 
the  conversion  of  the  empire  under  ('onstantine : 
and  in  the  35th  verse,  the  papal  persecutions  of 
the  witnesses."! 

In  the  36th  verse,  w  here  my  quotation  from  Daniel 
commences,  the  prophet  begins  to  describe  the  cha- 
racter of  that  power,  by  which  these  persecutions 
were  authorized — The  power  which  was  to  appear, 
as  the  fourth  beast,  after  the  time  of  Constantiiie, 
and  which  is  to  exist,  under  some  form,  until  he  come 
to  his  end,  and  none  shall  help  him,  verse  45. 

By  reviewing  the  comparison  of  this  power  Avith 
the  passages  selected  from  the  writings  of  Paul,  it 
will  appear  that  Daniel's  fourth  king  in  his  present 
state  coincides  with  Paul's  man  of  sin,  under  that 
apostacy  which  succeeded  the  overthrow  of  heathen 
Rome,  and  the  disinemberment  of  the  empire. 

*  "  Judaei  autem  hoc  nee  de  Antiocho  Eiuplianr,  nee  de  Anix 
cbristo,  sed  de  Rornanis  intelligi  volunt.  Post  mulla,  iuquit,  tem- 
jiora  de  ipais  Rornanis,  qui  PtoIema;o  venere  auxilio,  et  Antiocho 
comminati  sunt,  consurget  rex  Vespasianus,  surgent  brachia  ejus 
et  semina,  Titus  filius  cum  exercitu  ;  et  polluent  sanetuariuin,  aufe- 
rentique  Jude  sacrificiuni,  et  templum  tradenl  a.^teina3  solitudini." 
Hieron.  Coll  -iU9. 

Much  more,  to  the  same  purpose,  may  be  seen  by  consultincr 
Mede.  or  bighop  Ner.ton, on  this  part  of  Uani^l. 
T  Vol.  I.  p.  301' 


280  A^TiCHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

1.  Tlie  one,  cxallelh  himself,  and  magnifieik  him- 
acify  above  every  God,  and  speaketh  marvellous  things 
against  the  God  of  gods :  the  other,  opposeth  and  ex- 
alleth  himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  thai  is 
worshipped;  so  that  he  as  God  sitttth  in  the  temple  of 
God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God. 

As  to  daring  impiety,  and  actual  opposition  to 
God,  and  to  religion,  the  two  characters  are  precise- 
ly the  same.  Additional  features  of  irreligion  aie, 
however,  ascribed  to  this  power,  in  the  description 
of  the  apostle.  The  man  of  sin,  opposeth  each  per- 
son of  the  godhead  in  his  personal  properties  and 
offices  in  the  Christian  economy — all  that  is  called 
God,  or  that  is  worshipped;  and  thus,  the  man  of  sin 
is  identified  with  John's  antichrist,  even  more  clear- 
ly than  is  Daniel's  king,  denying  both  the  Father  and 
the  Son:  and  all  this  Is  done  under  the  profession  of 
Christianity,  usurping  power  over  the  church — so 
that  he  as  God  sittcth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing 
himself  that  he  is  Anti-Go^/,  the  Antichrist. 

2.  Daniel's  king,  regardeth  not  the  God  of  his  fa- 
thers, while  professedly  claiming  from  the  Fathers  the 
apostolical  succession  and  power :  Paul's  son  of  per- 
dition, cometh  after  the  working  of  Satan,  with  all 
power  and  lying  wonders,  false  miracles  to  deceive 
men,  as  if  lie  possessed  apostolical  authority. 

Both  serve  Satan,  disregard  God,  and  claim  the 
.religion  and  miraculous  power  of  the  Fathers. 

.3.  The  description  of  the  prophet  represents  the 
<  nemy,  as  regarding  not  the  desire  of  women,  nor  any 
God,  magnifying  himself  above  all — ^performing  acts. 


Daniel's  king.  281 

and  publishing  laws,  which  contiadicl  and  set  aside 
the  obligation  of  the  divine  law :  the  description  of 
the  apostle  coincides  with  this,  by  specifying  the 
particular  instances — Forhiddhiif;  to  marry,  and  com- 
manding to  abstain  from  meats,  nhich  God  hath  crea- 
ted to  be  received. 

To  be  regardless  of  the  desire  of  women,  as  also 
regardless  of  God,  are  the  characteristics  of  that 
law  which  enjoins  celibacy  upon  a  great  part  of  the 
population  of  the  different  countries  of  Europe — 
the  clergy,  monks,  and  nuns.  The  nuptial  state 
is  the  desire  of  women  as  well  as  of  men;  and  if 
there  be  more  modesty  and  chaste  affection  in  the 
female  character,  it  is  even  more  so.  The  nuptial 
state  is  peculiarly  the  desire  of  Avomen.  God  him- 
self hath  said,  and  ordained,  that  this  should  be  the 
case.  Gen.  iii.  16.  Unto  the  woman  he  said — thy 
DESIRE  shall  be  to  thy  husband. 

4.  The  power  described  by  Daniel  is  an  idolatrous 
poAver,  and  the  superstitious  homage  employed,  is 
characterized  as  very  splendid  and  costly — He  shall 
honour  the  God  of  forces  ;  and  a  God  whom  his  far 
thers  knew  not  shall  he  honour  with  gold,  and  silver, 
and  with  precious  stones.  The  system  described  by 
the  apostle  Paul  is  also  idolatrous,  as  well  as  hypo- 
critical— Giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits,  and  doctrines 
of  devils. 

The  doctrines  of  demons,  we  have  already  explain- 
•^d.*      Tlie  lionouring  of  the  God  of  forces,  un- 

"  See  Page  275. 

2  M 


282  ANTICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

known  to  the  fathers  of  the  church,  under  whom  the 
man  of  sin  claims,  is  precisely  this  dernon-worshipy 
borrowed  from  the  heathen,  and  actually  antichris- 
tian,  being  a  denial  of  the  vnly  mediator  Jesus  Christy 
by  substituting  others  in  his  place.  The  words 
which  we  render  in  Daniel  xi.  38.  the  God  of  forces, 
and  which  this  impious  pov/er  should  honour  in  his 
estate,  are  a^p'o  n'?^.  They  are  translated  by  Arius 
Montanus,  Deum  Mahnzzim.  Matthew  Pool,  after 
giving  from  various  authors  five  different  comtnen- 
taries  upon  this  expression,  gives  the  sixth,  as  thai 
to  which  he  himself  accedes.  Mahuzzim,  "  signi- 
fies the  demons,  or  the  gods  protectors,  which  the 
church  of  Rome  worships  along  with  Christ,  suppo- 
sino-  that  the  saints  and  ano;els  are  such."*  This  in- 
terpretation  is  illustrated  to  great  extent  by  the 
bishop  of  Bristol ;  and  is  much  more  conformable  to 
fact  than  the  modern  turn  given  to  the  passage  by 
Mr.  Faber,  representing  the  Mahuzzim  as  Fiench 
liberty.  af;ro  is  from  \v  which  signifies  strength; 
and  may  be  rendered  the  hosts  or  forces.  These 
forces  correspond  precisely  with  the  demons  of  Plato, 
and  the  papal  saints,  who  are  appointed  to  preside 
over  this  country,  and  that,  as  delusion  may  direct. 
Splendid  and  extravagant  have  been  the  expendi- 
tures of  arts  and  of  wealth,  made  for  the  pui-pose  of 
maintaining  this  idolatry ;  and  it  requires  no  argu- 
ment to  tonvince  the  intelligent  reader  of  Daniel's 


"  Sig'jjficat  dajmones,  sive  deos  protectores,  quos  Romani  cum 
Christo  colerunt ;  quales  sanctos  et  angeios  esse  supponiint."  Sy- 
NO?sis  Criticorum,  »^€. 


Daniel's  kinu.  283 

prophecy,  that  the  latter  pa  it  ol'  tlie  description  is 
perti'ctiy  ctnit'oriiial)le  to  the  event — And  he  shall 
cause  them  to  rule  over  mani/y  and  shall  divide  the 
land  for  i>(iin.  "  Yea,  he  shall  distribute  the  earth 
anions;  liis  Mahuzziin;  so  that  besides  several  patri- 
monies wliich  in  every  country  he  shall  allot  to 
theni,  he  shall  share  whole  kingdoms  and  provinces 
among  them :  Saint  Cieorge  shall  have  England , 
Saint  Andrew,  Scotland;  Saint  Dennis,  France; 
Saint  James,  Spain;  Saint  Mark,  Venice,  &c.  and 
bear  rule  as  presidents  and  patrons  of  their  several 
countries."  These  are  the  words  of  Mr.  Mede,  in 
explaining  this  text.  Bishop  Newton  applies  it, 
however,  not  to  the  supposed  saints  themselves,  but 
to  the  bishopSy  and  priests^  and  monksy  SCc.  who  every 
where  promoted  this  idolatry.  "  Their  authority 
and  jurisdiction  have  extended  over  the  purses  and 
consciences  of  men ;  they  have  been  enriched  with 
noble  buildings,  and  large  endowments,  and  have 
had  the  choicest  of  the  lands  appropriated  for  church 
lands.  These  are  points  of  such  public  notoriety, 
that  they  require  no  proof,  as  they  will  admit  of  no 
denial."* 

I  flatter  myself,  brethren,  that  I  have  now  furnish- 
ed you  with  sufficient  scriptural  evidence  of  the 
identity  of  antichrist,  with  the  whole  mystery  of 
iniquity;  with  that  great  apostacy  of  the  Roman 
empire,  which  sits  in  the  temple  as  an  opposite  God, 
and  which  prohibits  by  law  the  nuptial  state,  and  the 
use  of  meats,  which  God  hath  provided  for  men. 
You  will  also  have  observed,  that  this  description 

*   Newlon  on  (ho  Prophpcioc.  Vol.  f .  p.  37?,     Neu'-York.  1  794 


2B4  AISTICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

embraces,  in  one  complex  system,  the  church  and 
civil  stale,  together  witli  the  tyrannical  acts,  and  the 
superstitious  services,  employed  by  both  the  politi- 
cal and  ecclesiastical  power  united  over  the  nations. 
This  will  justify  me  in  designating  the  whole  as  am- 
iichristian,  and  in  representing  it  as  the  symbolical 
earthy  upon  which  all  the  vials  are  poured  out. 

I  must  trespass,  nevertheless,  a  little  longer  upon 
your  time  and  attention,  while, 

III.  /  obviate  the  objections  made  of  late  to  this  use 
of  the  term  antichrist. 

These  objections,  as  made  by  Mr.  Faber,  require 
a  reply.  He  is  too  able  and  valuable  an  expositor, 
to  be  treated  with  neglect  by  a  subsequent  inter- 
preter of  the  predictions  of  the  Apocalypse.  Upon 
the  subject  of  the  great  apostacy  of  the  European 
nations,  we  have  no  dispute  with  him.  He  follows 
the  track  marked  out  by  Mr.  Mede,  and  pursued  by 
the  two  Newtons,  and  the  whole  host  of  protestant 
commentators,  in  designating  the  leading  features  of 
that  system  of  iniquityy  which  unites,  in  the  chains  of 
tyranny  and  superstition,  the  several  kingdoms  of 
the  Latin  Roman  Empire,  although  he  labours  to 
prove,  that  the  antichrist  of  the  epistles  of  John, 
and  Daniel's  king,  apply  exclusively  to  revolutionary 
France.  The  magnitude  of  the  evils  connected 
with  that  event,  its  threatening  aspect  toward  his 
native  country,  the  powerful  antipathies  of  an  Eng- 
lish royalist,  and  the  force  of  political  prejudices,  if 
they  do  not  justify,  will  easily  account  for  the  bias 


faber's  hypothesis.  28.0 

under  which  he  brought  his  dissertations  before  the 
public  :*  and  very  probably,  if  the  British  adminis- 
tration had  not  been  irreconcileably  hostile  to  the 
eiTiancipation  of  the  Irish  CalholicSy  so  ardent  a  par- 
tizan  as  Mr.  Faber  would  not,  while  his  countrymen 

'^  The  recent  English  expositors  have  greatly  diminished  the 
value  of  their  publications,  by  permitting  themselves  to  indulge  bo 
much  of  the  spirit  of  political  partiality.  They  must  err,  it  seems, 
upon  one  side  or  the  other. 

Since  the  greater  part  of  these  lectures  have  been  delivered  from 
the  pulpit,  I  have  been  favoured  by  a  friend  with  the  perusal  of 
another  explanation  of  the  Revelation,  by  an  Englishman,  of  rather 
more  fire,  and  less  discretion,  than  Mr.  Faber.  He  is  on  the  oj>- 
posite  side  in  politics — the  Rev.  James  Brown,  D.  D.  of  BarnwelU 
Northamplonshire. 

This  work  bears  evident  marks  of  having  been  published  in  1811, 
or  1812.  It  is  a  work  of  genius;  and  yet  it  is  very  unworthy  of  a 
rank  among  the  best  expositions  of  the  Apocalypse.  The  author 
accompanied,  probably  as  a  chaplain,  the  British  army  sent  for  the 
reduction  of  American  liberty;  and  yet  he  is  himself  a  violent 
whig.  I  quote  from  his  work  the  following  as  a  specimen.  It  will 
rival  any  thing  Faber  has  written  against  the  rulers  of  Prance. 

"  If  the  beast,  in  form  like  a  lamb;  yet  spake  as  a  dragon,  acted 
as  a  demon,  and  hath  his  portion  assigned  him  with  the  devil  and 
the  first  beast; — who  will  doubt,  notwithstanding  their  candid  show, 
and  plausible  pretences,  that  a  North,  a  Germain,  a  Sandwich,  and 
other  s^ipporters  of  their  counsels,  who  for  seven  years,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  lives  of  many  thousands  of  British  subjects,  deluged 
America  with  the  blood  of  her  inhabitants,  contending  for  freedom, 
and  the  natural  rights  of  man,  are  in  the  sight  of  heaven  more 
guilty,  and  obnoxious  to  a  severer  doom,  than  all  the  private  murder- 
ers England  has  produced  since  it  was  a  nation. 

"  Is  there  one  individual  in  the  empire,  who  is  not  now  suffering 
under  those  corrupt  and  rapacious  principles,  which  have  dictated 
the  councils  of  this  country  for  near  a  century  past  ? — those  vul- 
tures only  excepted,  who  now  fatten  on  her  vitals,  or  those  who, 
already  gorged  with  her  blood,  and  loaded  with  ravin,  have  rftiVeri 


286  ANTICHRISTIAN   SYSTEM. 

were  spending  their  treasure  and  their  blood,  in  sup- 
port of  what  is  confessedly  the  mystery  of  iniquity, 
among  the  Spanish  Catholics,  have  so  unequivocally 
condemned  the  spirit  of  popery  itself. 

The  three  general  objections  which  Mr.  Faber  of- 
fers to  the  interpretation  of  bishop  Newton,  apply 
only  to  the  manner,  the  indefiniteness  of  his  interpre- 
tation: but  do  not  in  the  least  degree,  affect  the 
propriety  of  applying  this  prophecy  of  Daniel  to 
the  antichristian  system.  His  objections  are,  that 
the  bishop  makes  this  last  prediction  little  more  than  a 
repetition  of  a  former  one — that  the  interpretation  is  in 
want  of  unity — and  that  it  violates  the  chronological 
ordef. 

to  their  nests  to  devour  and  enjoy  their  prey— while  the  profuse 
courtier,  and  pampered  appendant  of  office,  is  straining  his  low 
fancy  to  invent  new  objects  of  vanity  and  luxurious  indulgence, 
to  exhaust  his  countless  treasures,  the  poor  peasant  and  his  family 
is  pining  in  want,  or  a  beggarly  dependant  on  parochial  supply. 
A  state  of  society,  so  subversive  of  the  essential  laws  of  nature 
and  Providence,  cannot  long  exist.  And  however  those  who  have 
been  the  means  of  introducing  it,  may  escape  punishment  from 
men,  and  however  much  they  may  have  glorified  themselves,  and  lived 
deliciously — if  we  rightly  understand  this  passage  of  scripture — so 
much  the  more  torment  and  sorrow,  so  mucli  the  severer  punishment 
is  denounced  agaii^st  them,  by  the  righteous  judgment  ol'  God," 
page  141 — 145.     See  also  his  remark  on  Mr.  Pitt,  page  142. 

"  From  the  politics  we  have  been  so  perseveringly  and  so  suc- 
cessfully pursuing  for  half  a  century  past,  we  may  plainly  perceive, 
that  no  ministry  who  will  not  support  this  profusion  in  the  court 
and  this  corruption  in  the  parliament,  will  ever  be  permitted  to 
continue  in  office.  Is  there  any  man  at  this  day  so  blind  as  not  to 
see,  that  from  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  the  lowest  excise- 
man, the  very  suspicion  of  a  partiality  to  the  interest  of  the  coun- 
try and  of  the  people,  in  preference  to  the  designs  of  the  court,  i^ 
nn  absolute  disqualification  for  any  office  ?" 


PABER*S   OBJECTIONS   OBVIATED.  287 

Repetitions,  however,  arc  often  made  in  the  scrip- 
ture, and  are  besides  frequently  necessary ;  seeing 
tlie  same  object  occurs  in  several  ditTerent  con- 
nexions, and  must  be  viewed  in  different  respects. 
There  is  no  necessary  violation  of  uniti/  in  applying 
the  prophecy  to  the  man  of  sin;  Newton's  fault  being 
too  complicated,  may  be  easily  corrected.  The  chro- 
nology of  that  prophecy  is  not  at  all  deranged,  by 
tlie  description,  in  the  succeeding  verses,  of  the  per- 
secuting power  referred  to  in  the  35th.  And  be- 
sides, a  key  to  the  chronology  is  furnished  in  this 
very  text,  compared  with  verse  40th,  the  time  of  the 
end.  The  persecutions  of  the  ine?i  of  understanding 
were  to  continue  by  verse  35th,  to  the  time  of  the 
end  ;  and  by  verse  40th,  it  is  at  this  very  time  that 
the  king  is  attacked  by  those  powers  which  are  to  be 
in  part  the  instruments  of  his  destruction.  The  inter- 
mediate description  must,  of  course,  belong  to  that 
power  which  waged  the  persecuting  war  upon  the 
saints. 

The  particidar  ohjections,  urged  from  the  text  it- 
self, against  our  interpretation,  have  been  already  in 
part  anticipated.  Mr.  Faber's  remarks  upon  the 
desire  of  womeny  and  the  Mahuzzimy  are  rather  inge- 
nious than  solid.  AVe  have  no  objections  that  the 
words,  the  desire  of  womeny  be  understood  to  signify 
that  which  women  desire;  but  we  insist  upon  it,  that 
this  very  expression  as  strongly  indicates  the  nuptial 
statCy  as  if  the  words  were  the  desire  of  men.  It  is, 
however,  astonishing,  that  a  man  of  Mr.  Faber's  ac- 
quaintance with  the  history  of  the  Latin  apostacy, 
should  doubt  whether  any  gain  accrued  to  the  pa- 


288  AiVTlCHKISTIAN   SYSTEM. 

pacy,  or  tlie  imperial  power  of  this  king,  from  par- 
celling out  the  country  to  the  Mahuzzim^  the  demon 
saints,  or  the  various  orders  of  clergy.  He  had  his 
PRICE  for  this ;  and  an  ample  price  it  was.  These 
ecclesiastical  orders  gave  as  the  price  of  their  esta- 
blishments, both  to  the  papacy  and  the  civil  power, 
much  of  the  wealth  and  the  liberties  of  the  several 
countries  of  Europe :  and  what  greater  gain  or 
price  could  they  require.  This  expositor  well  knew 
that  the  price  which  a  favoured  priesthood  is  always 
expected  to  give  for  the  royal  bounty,  is  the  alle- 
giance of  their  people  under  all  circumstances.  Too, 
too  faithfully,  alas,  has  this  price,  this  dear  price, 
been  paid  to  both  princes  and  popes.  They  have 
long  had  at  their  disposal  the  purses  and  the  persons 
of  their  deluded  and  oppressed  subjects,  throughout 
the  several  kingdoms  of  Europe. 

In  order  to  give  any  plausibility  to  the  system  of 
interpretation  which  Mr.  Faber  adopts,  he  is  under 
the  necessity  of  assuming,  as  a  point  from  which  to 
set  out,  a  false  fact :  and  we  fear,  it  is  for  the  sake 
merely  of  giving  some  excuse  for  insisting  upon  this 
false  hypothesis,  desirable  for  certain  political  pur- 
poses, that  this  scheme  of  exposition  has  at  all  been 
adopted.  That  false  and  gratuitous  hypothesis  is, 
that  imperial  France  is  an  infidel  power, 

I  call  this  a  false  fad :  for  I  insist  upon  it,  that 
France  is  still  one  of  the  antichristian  powers  of 
Europe  ;  one  of  the  horns  of  the  beast ;  one  of  the 
kingdoms  of  the  grand  apostacy. 

She  has  had,  it  is  true,  many  infidel  philosophers 
among  her  learned  men ;  but  so  also  have  other  na- 


FABER's   objections   OBVIATBiD.  289 

tions,  not  excepting  her  great  rival,  the  British  em 
pire.  Hume,  and  Shaftesbury,  and  Bolingbroke,  and 
Gibbon,  and  Kaimes,  were  in  nowise  inferior,  in  in- 
dustry and  zeal  against  the  gospel,  to  Voltaire,  and 
Rosseau,  and  the  French  CEconomists.  The  Ulumi- 
nati  of  Germany,  the  head  of  the  empire,  were  no 
less  addicted  to  infidelity  than  the  French  Jacobins ; 
and  perhaps  the  celebrated  Frederic  of  Prussia,  a 
royal  tyrant  of  no  mean  rank  among  the  nations, 
was  not  surpassed  in  attachment  to  infidelity  by  any 
of  the  Democrats  of  revolutionary  France. 

The  truth  is,  that  infideliiy  always  has  been,  and 
always  will  be,  the  companion  of  gross  superstition. 
'  This  fiction  of  Jesus  Christ^''  said  one  of  the  popes 
of  Rome,  "  this  fiction,  how  much  we  make  hi/  itT 

Revolutionary  France,  however,  went  further. 
She  made  a  national  profession  of  Atheism.  A 
declaration,  without  opposition,  in  the  national  con- 
vention, extinguished  Christianity,  and  made  death 
an  eternal  sleep.  Shortly  thereafter,  the  vote 
of  the  famous  Robespierre  destroyed  Atheism,  and 
established  Deism  as  the  religion  of  France.  This 
was  followed,  at  no  distant  period,  by  the  mandate 
of  another  tyrant,  re-establishing  all  the  pageantry  of 
the  ancient  superstition,  and  restoring  France  to  the 
communion  of  the  man  of  sinJ^ 

When  France  was  atheistical,  the  people  had  as 
much  true  religion  as  they  had  on  the  preceding 

*  How  easily  can  a  tyrant  make  a  national  religion  ?  and  of  how 
little  valae  is  it  in  the  eight  of  God,  or  in  the  estimation  of  good 
men,  when  thus  made  ' 

2  N 


290  ANTICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

year ;  and  they  have  as  little,  probably,  to-day,  as 
they  had  during  the  reign  of  liobcspierre. 

But  France  is  no  longer  an  alheislical  nation.  If 
a  decree  once  made  her  so,  the  decree  is  rescinded. 
If,  without  such  a  decree,  the  irreligion  of  some  of 
her  principal  scholars  and  statesmen  made  her  so, 
the  same  cause  universally  prevalent  among  the  na- 
tions, must  make  all  the  nations  atheistical,  in  de- 
spite of  their  establishments.  England  was  a  Pres- 
byterian kingdom,  by  a  decree  of  parliament,  for  a 
few  years  of  the  seventeenth  century.  During  the 
protectorship  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  England  was  a 
commonwealth,  or  republic.  It  would  be  to  the 
full  as  correct,  to  call  the  English  nation  in  the 
present  day,  a  Presbyterian  republic,  although  she 
is  in  fact,  governed  by  a  constitution,  which  com- 
bines the  prelacy  and  the  monarchy,  as  to  call 
France,  imder  her  present  constitution,  an  atheisti- 
cal republic,  or  empire, 

I  conclude  these  remarks  in  the  words  of  the  New 
Edinburgh  Encyclopedia,  reviewing  the  opinion  of 
Mr.  Faber,  under  the  article  antichrist.  "  He 
maintains,  that  revolutionary  France  is  antichrist; 
and  that  this  formidable  power  was  revealed  in  all 
its  terrors,  in  the  year  1792,  when  monarchy  was 
abolished,  and  atheism  openly  avowed. — This  opi- 
nion, it  must  be  acknowledged,  is  supported  by  its 
author  with  great  learning  and  ingenuity.  But  when 
we  recollect,  that  most  of  the  facts  on  which  it  Js 
founded  are  drawn  from  the  fanciful  and  exaggerated 
statements  of  Barruel;  and  that  the  abolition  of 
monarchy,  and  the  avowal  of  atheistical  tenets,  were 


COKCLUSION.  291 

but  the  deed  of  a  comparatively  sinall  number,  ac- 
tuated by  a  temporary  phrenzy ;  and  that  the  one 
was  soon  succeeded  by  the  return  of  regular  govern- 
ment, and  the  other  by  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Christian  religion,*  we  cannot  feel  disposed  to  at- 
tach much  credit  to  the  theory  of  Mr.  Faber.  It 
seems  to  derive  its  chief  interest  from  the  extraordi- 
nary value  of  tlie  events  which  have  lately  taken 
place  in  France,  and  from  the  desire  that  we  natu- 
rally, but  illiberally  feel,  to  load  that  country  and 
its  ruler  with  all  that  we  have  been  accustomed,  as 
a  religiou^^  nation,  to  regard  with  most  abhorrence; 
and  consequently  to  justify  upon  system,  the  spirit  of 
eternal  warfare.  There  is,  it  is  said,  a  large  manu- 
script volume  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  written  to 
prove  that  Oliver  Cromwell  was  the  antichrist. 
This  may  appear  very  ridiculous  to  us,  but  it  did 
not  perhaps  appear  so  to  those  who  lived  in  the 
times  of  the  usurpation.  And  in  a  century  or  two 
hence,  Mr.  Faber's  book,  so  greedily  swallowed  by 
many  of  the  present  times,  may  be  equally  a  sub- 
ject of  general  Avonder  and  pity." 

COXCLUSIO^'. 

From  the  considerations,  my  brethren,  which 
have  now  been  suggested,  we  feel  authorized  in 
drawing  the  inference,  that  the  several  names, 
antkhristy  man  of  sin,  the  king  doing  his  own  will, 

*  By  regular  government  and  the  Christian  religion,  unfo  which 
this  writer  says,  France  returned,  we  arc  to  understand,  despot- 
ism and  i)opery. 


292"  ANTICHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

the  mystery  of  iniquity,  and  the  apostacy  of  the  latter 
days,  are  all  different  names  of  the  same  great  sys- 
tem of  opposition  to  true  religion;  and  that  they 
all  designate  that  public  prostitution  of  Christianity^ 
which  is  connected  with  the  fourth  universal  empire. 

I  am  the  more  anxious  to  impress  this  idea  upon 
your  minds,  because  the  adversary  of  our  salvation, 
in  whose  service,  and  by  whose  power,  the  antichris- 
tians  carry  on  their  seductions,  is  diligently  occu- 
pied in  diverting  the  attention  of  the  witnesses  of 
Christ  from  this  principal  impediment  to  a  general 
reformation. 

If  he  can  succeed  in  begetting  infidelity,  and  in 
rearing  up  this  his  own  creature,  to  such  an  alarming 
height  among  the  nations,  as  to  attract  the  principal 
notice  of  the  saints,  and  call  forth  their  principal  ef- 
forts, he  can  the  more  securely  promote  the  anti- 
christian  delusion,  upon  which  he  places  his  chief 
dependence,  in  prolonging  his  own  reign  over  the 
nations,  and  in  preventing  the  progress  of  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Son  of  God. 

Be  not  deceived  by  these  acts,  although  they  may 
have  been  already  too  far  successful.  From  openly 
avowed  infidelity,  you  have  little  to  fear.  With 
shameless  effrontery  that  enemy  stalks  forth  at  noon- 
day ;  but  it  is  from  a  masked  battery  the  foe  does 
the  greatest  execution.  The  scriptural  predictions 
are  in  this  case  our  safest  guide.  They  foretell,  for 
our  instruction,  that  the  spirit  of  antichrist  is  that 
which  we  have  most  to  fear,  most  to  detest,  most  to 
oppose.  Avowed  atheism  has  little  to  recommend 
it,  even  to  the  fallen  mind.    It  finds  in  human  nature. 


CONCLUSION.  293 

comparatively  few  principles  upon  wliicli  to  ingraft 
its  own  scions.  Man  is  naturally  prone  to  reverence 
some  invisible  superior.  It  is  upon  "  the  sense  of 
deity"  in  the  depraved  heart,  that  Satan  rests  his 
baneful  superstition.  From  such  superstition,  we 
have  more  to  fear,  as  individuals,  and  as  members 
of  society,  than  from  actual  atheism.  AVhere  one 
man  has  descended  into  the  pit,  denying  the  being 
of  a  God  and  of  a  future  state,  thousands  have  pe- 
rished in  false  hope ;  have  fallen  blindfolded  by  error 
into  the  ditch ;  or,  bound  in  the  shackles  of  a  false 
faith,  have  been  dragged  into  the  prison  whence 
there  is  no  redemption. 

Infidelity  affects  society  by  a  temporary  phrenzy. 
It  speedily  produces,  by  its  obvious  evils,  a  cure  to 
its  own  poison.  But  superstition,  united  with 
despotic  power,  holds  a  more  successful  sceptre. 
It  is  more  than  the  magic  wand  of  fairy  tales,  more 
than  the  witchcrafts  and  enchantments  of  ancient 
barbarism.  It  finds  ready  access  to  the  corrupt 
heart;  it  imperceptibly  insinuates  its  soul-ruining 
heresies ;  it  decorates  its  temples ;  it  avows  respect 
for  the  gods ;  it  promises  celestial  happiness ;  it  in- 
troduces the  voice  of  the  multitude  in  its  favour; 
and  thus,  it  deceives  the  unwary  to  their  own  de- 
struction. 

Pretending  to  be  the  guardian  of  the  peace,  the 
prosperity  and  the  glory  of  nations,  it  employs  the 
sword  of  civil  authority,  to  cut  off,  as  disturbers  of 
the  peace,  the  witnesses  of  a  purer  faith  and  a  more 
holy  practice.  Pilate  was  less  an  enemy  to  our  Sa- 
viour than  were  Annas  and  Caiaphas ;  and  where  in- 


294  coi\'CLUSioN. 

fidelity  has  sacrificed  upon  her  altars  one  true  be- 
liever,  the  superstition  of  despotic  princes  have  of- 
fered up  to  their  rapacious  demons  the  blood  of  a 
thousand  martyrs. 

Be  not  deceived,  Christians,  I  repeat  it,  be  not 
deceived  by  the  cry  of  French  atheism ;  but  mark 
with  more  attention  than  ever  antichrist,  in  whatever 
nation  he  may  be  found.  Treat  with  equal  jealousy 
and  indignation,  French,  and  German,  and  Spanish, 
and  Russian,  and  British  antichristianism.  This  is 
the  grand  enemy  of  the  church.  It  is  the  enem} 
now  to  be  destroyed.  Attend,  therefore,  in  the  fear 
of  God,  to  the  voice  which  is  heard  from  heaven, 
giving  commission  to  the  angels  of  death,  Go  your 
ways,  and  pour  out  the  vials  of  the  wrath  of  God  upon 
the  EARTH.     Amen. 


I 


BIBLARIDION, 

OR    THE 

.iPOCALYPTICAL  LITTLE  BOOK 


LECTURE  X. 

Kev.  X.  9....A7id  I  tvent  unto  the  angel,  and  said  unto 
him,  Give  me  the  little  book.  And  he  said  unto  me. 
Take  it,  and  eat  it  up;  and  it  shall  make  thy  belly 
bitter,  but  it  shall  be  in  thy  mouth  sweet  as  honey, 

XHERE  is  a  very  general  reluctance,  obvious 
upon  the  part  of  mankind,  to  have  their  conduct 
tried  by  the  precepts  of  divine  revelation.  This 
featiue  of  human  character  appears,  most  conspicu- 
ous, in  those  great  social  concerns  which  involve  the 
strongest  feelings,  and  the  most  extensive  temporal 
interests  of  multitudes  of  men — 1  mean  those  very 
complicated  concerns  which  usually  pass  under  the 
general  name  of  politics.  There  exists,  even  among 
professed,  and  perhaps  some  real  Christians,  a  power- 
ful disinclination  to  have  their  political  maxims  and 
transactions  subjected  to  the  rules  of  Christianity. 

This  fact,  while  it  is  an  evidence  that  religion  is 
opposed  to  the  general  plans  of  worldly-minded 
men,  and  also  that  it  has  too  little  influence  over  its 


296  THE  LITTLE    OPEN   BOOK. 

professed  friends,  is  not  surprising.  Christianity, 
hitherto,  except  in  a  few  instances,  has  suffered  by 
its  connexion  with  civil  polity:  and,  from  the  very 
nature  of  society,  it  must  suffer,  in  such  connexion, 
until  both  learning  and  power  are  transferred  into 
the  hands  of  godly  men,  and  so  made  subservient  to 
piety.  Independently  of  the  impressive  lessons  of 
long  and  painful  experience  upon  this  subject,  it  is 
quite  reasonable  to  expect,  that  if  unsanctified  men 
incorporate  revealed  religion  with  civil  government, 
such  a  form  will  be  certainly  given  to  religion,  as 
may  suit  unsanctified  power.  The  daughter  of  Zion 
is  much  better  without  such  an  alliance :  for  it  is  the 
very  essence  of  antichristianism.  The  bride,  the 
LarnVs  wife,  cannot  be  supposed  to  escape  pollu- 
tion, if  taken  into  the  embraces  of  unholy  men,  and 
rendered  dependent  upon  a  government  which  they 
administer.  It  is  safer  for  the  friends  of  religion  to 
continue  like  the  witnesses  prophesying  in  sackcloth, 
faithfully  struggling  in  poverty  against  the  frowns  of 
power,  than  to  become  the  stipendiaries  of  irreli- 
gious statesmen. 

This  truth  is  inculcated  by  every  line  of 

THE    LITTLE   OPEN    BOOK. 

It  is  the  design  of  this  lecture.  To  explain  the 
manner  in  which  this  hook  is  brought  into  view — and 
To  unfold  its  contents. 

The  discussion,  although  it  does  not  assume  the 
form  of  a  Commentary,  must  be  in  fact  an  exposi- 
tion of  chap.  x.  throughout,  and  of  chap.  xi.  from 
the  1st  to  the  13th  verse.    The  succeeding  verses  of 


THE    MODE   OF    ITS    EXHIBITION.  29^7 

that  chapter,  have  already  been  explained  in  Lecture 
VIII.  of  this  series  of  discouriies. 

I.  /  am  to  cxpl'iiti  to  you  the  manner  in  which  this 
book  is  f)roiii^hf,  into  view. 

In  the  preceding  lecture,  I  have  endeavoured  to 
show  the  meaning  of  the  term  antichrist,  and  have 
given  the  reasons  which  require  its  application  to 
the  great  apostaci/  of  the  Latin  Roman  empire. 

When  expounding  the  trumpets,  we  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  pass  over  the  tenth,  and  the  principal  part 
of  the  eleventh  chapter,  in  order  to  proceed  directly 
from  the  sixth  to  the  seventh  trumpet ;  and  we  then 
showed  the  reason  for  interposing  the  present  sub- 
ject of  discussion  between  these  two  trumpets,  viz. 
To  exhibit  the  object  of  the  last-mentioned  judg- 
ment, which  had  in  fact  risen  up  during  the  progress 
of  the  preceding  trumpets.* 

As  the  same  system  of  immorality  and  irreligion, 
which  is  the  subject  of  punishment  under  the  seventh 
trumpet,  or  tliird  wo,  is  the  subject  of  the  judgments 
poured  out  from  the  vials  also,  it  is  necessary  to  de- 
scribe it  more  particularly  in  this  place,  than  could 
be  consistently  done  at  the  time  Just  mentioned. 
We  have  already  observed,  that  the  narrative  of  the 
trumpets  proceeds  from  the  close  of  chap.  ix.  to 
chap.  xi.  14.  and  that  the  whole  of  chap.  x.  and  xi. 
1 — 13.  should  be  considered  as  parenthetical. 

*  The  reader  may  consult  in  this  connexion,  Lecture  VII.  from 
page  188.  to  page  192.  Arguuient  2d,  for  a'^certainint^  the  time  n' 
the  third  wo. 

2  O 


298  THE   LITTLE    BOOK 

This  part  is  the  lillh  book  introduced,  as  a  codicil, 
or  as  a  note  to  the  larger,  the  sealed  book:  for  that  book, 
including  the  seven  seals,  must  also  have  included  the 
seven  trumpets.  And  as  the  latter  part  of  chap.  xi.  de- 
scribes the  seventh  trumpet,  that  part  nmst  of  course 
belong  to  the  larger,  and  not  to  the  little  book. 

This  codicil,  or  little  book,  is  introduced  to 
view  in  a  distinct  vision.  It  is  the  fourth  of  the 
prophetic  visions  recorded  in  the  Apocalypse.  In 
reading  the  account  here  given  of  it,  our  attention  is 
directed  to  himy  who  held  in  his  hand  this  book, — to 
the  seven  thunders  which  accompanied  the  revelation  of 
this  personage — and  to  the  fact  of  John  the  Diviners 
taking  the  book  out  of  his  hand. 

1.  This  vision  exhibits  our  Saviour  as  holding  in 
his  hand  an  open  book. 

Chap.  X.  1,  2.  And  I  saw  another  mighty  angel 
come  down  from  heaven,  clothed  with  a  cloud,  and  a 
rainbow  was  upon  his  head,  and  his  face  was  as  it 
were  the  sun,  and  his  feet  as  pillars  of  fire :  And  he 
had  in  his  hand  a  little  book  open :  and  he  set  his  right 
foot  upon  the  sea,  and  his  left  foot  upon  the  earth,  and 
cried  with  a  loud  voice  as  when  a  lion  roareth. 

The  angel  now  revealed,  is  not  an  inferior  mes- 
senger, but  the  Omnipotent  Angel  of  the  covenant, 
descending  from  heaven  in  his  administration  of  the 
kingdom  of  Providence.  Every  part  of  the  hiero- 
glyphic points  out  God-man  our  glorious  Redeemer. 
As  lie  dwelt  in  the  cloudy  pillar,  which  served  as 
the  guide  of  Israel  from  Egypt  to  the  land  of  pro- 
mise, so  he  appears  clothed  with  a  cloud,  to  his  church, 
when  he  first  announces  the  character  of  antichrist. 


HELD    IN   THE    LORD's    HAND.  299 

To  the  Fatlier  of  the  faithful,  Gen.  xv.  he  appeared 
passing  between  tlie  parts  of  the  sacrifice,  which 
confirmed  tlie  covenant,  in  a  smoking  furnace,  and 
burning  lauij),  signifying  the  troubles  and  the  tri- 
umphs of  the  cljil(h'en  of  promise.  Now,  when  the 
church  is  entering  into  the  gloomy  valley,  in  the  pe- 
riod emphatically  called  the  dark  ages,  Messiah  puts 
on,  as  a  mantle,  a  cloud  of  thick  darkness. 

Tlie  church  shall,  nevertheless,  enjoy  new  cove- 
nant protection.  The  seal  of  God  is  visible,  in  the 
raitibon,  on  the  head  of  .lesus  Christ.  Christians 
behold  with  joy  this  token  ;  and,  however  dark  the 
cloud,  they  are  certain  that  the  floods  shall  not  over- 
whelm them. 

They  who  love  him  too,  during  the  general  moral 
darkness  of  the  world,  are  favoured  with  the  light 
of  his  countenance.  His  face  was  as  it  were  the 
sun.  They  who  fear  his  name,  shall  see  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  arising  with  healing  in  his  wings :  for 
light  shall  arise  to  the  upright  in  darkness. 

Pure  in  themselves,  and  sanctifying  in  their  effects 
to  his  followers,  shall  be  the  dispensations  of  this  al- 
mighty Messenger.  His  steps  are  in  holiness  and 
majesty  :  for  his  feet  are  as  pillars  ofjire. 

In  evidence  both  of  his  mediatory  power,  and  of 
the  extent  of  his  authority,  he  places  his  right  foot 
vpon  the  sea,  and  his  hft  fool  upon  the  earth.  The 
Father  indeed,  hath  put  all  things  under  his  feet. 
The  waters  of  the  deep  obeyed  his  voice  when  he 
was  upon  earth;  yea,  the  sea  received  originally 
from  him,  the  decree,  hitlierto  shalt  thou  come,  and 
no  further.     The  earth  also  belongs  to  him ;  for  he 


300  THE    LITTLE    BOOK 

made  it,  and  as  the  Redeemer  of  men  he  upholds 
the  pillars  of  it.  All  that  are  upon  it,  whether  man 
or  beast,  are  subject  to  his  government.  Thou  hast 
given  him  power  over  all  flesh. 

The  right  foot  is  that  which  naturally  first  ad- 
vances. It  is  put  in  this  case,  upon  the  symbolical 
stay — the  turbulent  and  distracted  multitudes  of  men 
who  were  left  in  confusion  after  the  dismemberment 
of  the  western  empire.  Over  them  he  reigns :  and 
he  controls  their  wrath.  Afterwards,  the  antichris- 
tian  system  appears  more  firm — the  symbolical  earth. 
It  also  is  undei  the  feet  of  Messiah.  For,  although 
the  man  of  siriy  the  impious  king  of  Daniel's  prophe- 
cy, sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  in  order  to  oppose 
the  Most  High  and  set  at  nought  both  his  worship 
and  his  law,  he  is  himself  in  fact  under  the  feet  of 
our  Saviour:  yea,  the  whole  mystery  of  iniquity  is 
absolutely  under  his  control. 

In  possession  of  this  power  and  authority  he 
causeth  his  voice  to  be  heard.  He  cried,  as  when  a 
lion  roareth.  He  spake  with  authority,  when  he  ap- 
peared on  earth  in  the  form  of  a  servant.  Now,  ex- 
alted to  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  made  King  of 
kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,  he  gives  the  word,  and  it 
is  done.  Who  can  resist  Omnipotence '(  Although 
he  is  the  Lamb  slain  as  a  victim  for  our  sins,  he  is  also 
the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  who  governs  both  his 
own  people,  and  his  and  their  enemies. 

He  had  in  his  hand  a  little  book  open.  In  the  vision 
of  the  sealed  book,  it  was  made  sufficiently  manifest 
that  Messiah  alone  can  administer  and  reveal  the  pur- 
poses of  the  divine  mind  respecting  the  concerns  of  his 


iN   THE   mediator's   HAND.  301 

empire.  He  took  thai  book  out  of  his  Father's  hand : 
and  it  was  not  now  necessary  to  repeat  the  evidence 
oi  liis  mediatory  appointment  to  universal  au- 
thority. He  of  course  appears  in  the  undisputed  pos- 
session of  supreme  power.  The  book  in  his  hand  is 
also  open.  He  who  was  entitled  to  break  up  the 
seven  seals  of  the  great  book,  of  the  Lord's  vvliole 
purpose  respecting  the  future  concerns  of  the  chuich 
and  of  the  moral  world,  may  be  justly  represented 
as  having  the  subordinate  parts  of  the  grand  scheme 
already  laid  open  to  him,  that  he  may  lay  tliem  open 
to  his  servants.  There  is  a  more  particular  reason, 
however,  for  representing  the  present  book  as  open 
in  his  hand. 

Of  the  sealed  book,  the  events  were  still  future 
at  the  date  of  the  vision.  Of  this  book,  the  subject 
was  actually  matter  of  history  at  the  time  to  which 
the  vision  now  under  consideration  applies.  It  is  in- 
troduced to  view,  after  the  age  of  the  second  wo,  or 
sixth  trumpet:  and  it  respects  what  had,  long  before, 
been  too  well  known,  and  severely  felt  throughout 
Christendom, — the  great  antichristian  system.  After 
the  year  1672,*  when  the  second  wo  had  overthrown 
completely  the  remains  of  the  Greek  empire,  and 
the  Ottoman  power  was  seated  in  the  city  of  Con- 
stantine  the  Great,  a  book,  which  described  the  an- 
tichristian system  of  the  western  empire,  ought  not 
to  be  represented  as  a  sealed  book.  The  persecuting 
character  of  the  man  of  sin-,  and  the  sufferings  of  the 
witnesses,  had  already  been  made  manifest  in  the 

"^  See  this  explained  in  page  1 70. 


302  THE   LITTLE    BOOK= 

light  of  history,  and  therefore  was  this  book  open  in 
the  Redeemer's  hand. 

It  was  a  Uttle  book,  B«^A«t^i#«ov,  is  a  diminutive  of 
BijBAof.  It  is  very  smprising  that,  in  direct  contradic- 
tion to  the  assertion,  which  comparing  the  present 
book  with  the  sealed  book  formerly  described,  calls 
this  a  very  small  volume,  so  many  judicious  men  as 
the  great  mass  of  protestant  Commentators  upon  the 
Apocalypse  have  been,  should  persist  in  making  it 
larger  than  the  other.  There  is  not  a  shadow  of 
reason  for  Dr.  .Johnston's  assertion,  that  it  is  the  re- 
mainder of  the  sealed  book  itself,  embracing  the 
wiiole  succeeding  twelve  chapters  of  the  Revelation. 
There  is  as  little  foundation  for  the  assertion  of  Mr. 
Faber,  that  it  contains  the  whole  of  the  chapters 
from  the  ixth  to  the  xvth.  Bishop  Newton  and  Dr^ 
Scott  are  undoubtedly  correct,  in  representing  the 
little  book  as  terminating  with  verse  13  of  chap.  xi. 

Both  these  gentlemen  have,  however,  neglected  to 
state  the  principal  object  of  the  little  book,  and  of 
course  the  most  forcible  argument  for  limiting  it  as 
they  have  done.  It  was  introduced  between  the 
narrative  of  the  sixth  and  that  of  the  seventh  trum- 
pet, because  otherwise  the  seventh  trumpet  must 
have  appeared  without  an  object. 

In  no  other  part  of  the  Apocalypse  had  there  been 
given  a  view  of  the  antichristian  empire,  before  the 
sounding  of  the  seventh  trumpet ;  and  consequently 
it  was  necessary  in  this  place  to  return,  and  select 
from  preceding  history  an  account  of  that  upon  which 
the  wo,  denounced  by  the  angel  of  the  seventh  trum- 
petj  was  about  to  fail.     The  parenthesis,  therefore. 


THE    SEVEN   THTTNDFRS.  :t03 

which  gives  this  account  between  these  two  trumpets, 
is  the  link  book;  and,  on  account  of  the  vast  im- 
portance  of  its  contents,  it  is  introduced  to  our  view 
with  very  great  solemnity. 

Tlie  Lord  Jesus  Christ  iiimself  holds  it  open  in 
his  hand,  and 

2.  The  exhibition  was  accompanied  with  the  voice 
of  thunder. 

Verses  3 — 7.  And  nhen  he  had  cried,  seven  Ihun- 
dcrs  uttered  their  voices.  And  when  the  seven  thunr 
ders  had  uttered  their  voices y  I  ivas  about  to  write:  and 
[  heard  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying  unto  me.  Seal  up 
those  things  which  the  seven  thunders  uttered,  and  write 
them  not.  And  the  angel  which  I  saw  stand  upon  the 
sea,  and  upon  the  earth,  lifted  up  his  hand  to  heaverit 
and  sware  by  him  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ercr,  who 
created  heaven,  and  the  things  that  therein  are,  and  the 
sea,  and  the  things  ivhich  are  therein,  that  there  should 
be  time  no  longer :  but  in  the  days  of  the  voice  of  the 
seventh  angel,  when  he  shall  begin  to  sound,  the  mystery 
of  God  should  be  finished,  as  he  hath  declared  to  hii 
servants  the  prophets. 

Thunder,  is  the  noise  produced  by  contending  ele- 
ments, and  usually  denotes,  in  the  prophetic  lan- 
guage, those  alarming  contentions  among  the  princi- 
pal powers  of  the  nations,  which  issue  in  the  great 
calamities  of  war.  These  seven  thunders  communi- 
cated to  the  apostle  John  an  exposition  of  their  own 
nature  and  design;  and  he  was  about  comnuniicating 
to  us,  in  this  place,  tlie  information  which  he  had 
himself   received.       He  was   prevented  by  divine 


304  THE   LITTLE   BOOK. 

authority.  /  heard  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying  unto 
me,  Seal  up  those  things  which  the  seven  thunders  utter- 
ed, and  write  them  not.  This  is  not  the  place  for 
proclaiming  these  predictions.  Like  the  visions  ot 
Daniel,*  these  voices  must  be  sealed  up  for  an  ap- 
pointed time.  What  that  time  is,  we  must  learn 
from  the  Messenger  of  the  covenant,  our  Lord  him- 
self: and  he  proclaims  it  under  the  awful  solemnity 
of  an  oath.  The  angel  lifted  up  his  hand  to  heaven^ 
and  sware  hy  him  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  that 
THE  TIME  SHALL  NOT  BE  YET :  but  in  the  days  of  the 
voice  of  the  seventh  angel,  when  he  shall  begin  to  sound, 
the  mystery  of  God  should  be  finished,  as  he  hath  de- 
clared to  his  servants  the  prophets. 

The  phrase  on  xi°^°^  °^^  ^'^'  ^^'^'y  I  render,  notwith- 
standing the  assertion  of  archdeacon  Woodhouse, 
and  the  authority  of  our  translation,  that  the  time  is 
not  yet,  instead  of  Time  shall  be  no  longer ;  because 
this  version  is  justifiable,  and  it  is  much  more  intel- 
ligible than  the  other.f 

John  the  Divine,  by  a  prejudice  which  has  greatly 
abounded,  and  which  indeed  is  natural  to  ingenuous 
and  pious  minds,  anticipated  the  date  of  the  termi- 
nation of  the  fourth  beasfs  opposition  to  Christianity. 
The  Redeemer  corrects  the  mistake,  and  assures  him, 
that  the  voice  of  thunder  which  he  heard,  and  which 
he  was  about  to  write,  should  not  be  accomplished 
until  the  time  of  the  seventh  trumpet. 

This  trumpet  puts  an  end  to  the  antichristian  sys- 
tem, about  to  be  revealed  in  the  xith  chapter. 

*  Dan.  viii.  26.  and  xii.  4,  9. 
T  It  is  preferred  by  Newton.  Mede,  Johnston,  &c. 


THE    SEVEN   THUNDERS.  :'.0;:» 

Then  shall  the  mysien/  of  God  be  finished.  That 
sovereign  and  mysterious  Providence,  which  permits 
the  mystery  of  iniquily  so  long  to  prevail,  will  at  the 
very  time,  revealed  of  old  to  his  servants  the  prophets, 
come  to  an  end. 

The  same  truth  was  declared  to  Daniel  under  si- 
milar circumstances,  with  the  solemnity  of  an  oath, 
taken  in  the  same  holy  and  impressive  manner.* 

*  The  manner  in  which  an  appeal  is  made  to  the  Supreme  Be- 
ing, ought  never  in  a  ChristiaJi  country  to  be  consiilered  as  indiffer- 
ent. Custom,  ahis,  and  not  conscience,  will  however,  among  irre- 
ligious men,  usually  direct  the  manner  of  their  religious  worship. 

The  prevailing  manner  of  administering  oaths,  in  this  country, 
borrowed  from  English  customs,  is  not  only  unmeaning  and  irre- 
verent; but  also  superstitious,  and  greatly  tends  to  destroy  the  so- 
lemnity of  an  oath.  To  see  some  careless  servant  or  clerk  holding 
out  a  book,  no  matter  what,  which  the  juror  is  io  kiss,  would  be 
ridiculous  enough,  were  it  not  a  prostitution  of  a  holy  ordinance. 
In  that  case  it  becomes  impious. 

Paley,  in  his  Principles  of  Moral  Philosophy,  admits  the  perni- 
cious tendency  of  the  English  practice  on  this  subject.  "  The 
forms  of  oaths — are,  in  no  country  in  the  world,  I  believe,  worse 
contrived,  either  to  convey  the  meaning,  or  impress  tb.e  obligatiou 
of  an  oath,  than  in  our  own — the  substance  of  the  oath  is  repeated 
to  the  juror  by  the  otBcer,  adding  in  the  conclusion,  '  .So  help  you 
God.''  The  juror,  whilst  he  hears  the  words  of  the  oath,  liolds  his 
right  hand  upon  a  Bible  or  other  book — ^then  kisses  the  book:  the 
kiss,  however,  seems  rather  an  act  of  reverence  to  the  contents  of 
the  book,  as  in  the  popish  ritual,  the  priest  kisses  the  gospel  before 
he  reads  it,  than  any  part  of  the  oath,'-  page  137.  Boston,  Oct. 
1801. 

Another  Archdeacon  of  the  church  of  England  takes  notice  of 
the  prevailing  deviation  from  the  scriptural  manner  of  swearing, 
and  remarks  with  IMr.  Paley,  the  continuance  of  the  proper  method 
still  in  Scotland.  "  The  angel  takes  a  solemn  oath,  in  a  form  of 
scriptural  antiquity.  This  mode  of  swearing  has  descended  even 
2  P 


306  THE    LITTLE   BOOK. 

Dan.  xii.  7 — 9.  And  I  heard  the  man  clothed  in  linen, 
which  was  upon  the  waters  of  the  river,  when  he  held 
up  his  right  hand  and  his  left  hand  unto  heaven,  and 
sware  hy  him  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  that  it  shall 
he  for  a  time,  times,  and  an  half — then  said  I,  O  my 


to  our  own  times  and  nation,  being  still  used  in  Scotland."     Wood- 
house  in  loco. 

The  practice  of  kissing  the  book,  which  Paley  derives  from  the 
church  of  Rome,  is  of  more  remote  antiquity.  The  papal  supersti- 
tion borrowed  it,  like  the  other  parts  of  their  demon-worship,  from  the 
heathen.  Minutius  Felix  says,  that  as  Caecilius  passed  before  the 
statue  of  Serapis,  he  kissed  his  hand  toward  the  statue.  And  the 
editor  of  Calmet's  Dictionary  gives  several  instances  of  this  kind 
of  idolatry.  Job,  xxxi.  26,  27.  describes  this  kissing  as  an  act  of 
idolatry  to  be  punished  hy  the  judges,  instead  of  being  imitated  by 
them  in  their  systems  of  jurisprudence.  It  is  described,  1  King* 
xix.  18.  as  a  part  of  the  homage  given  to  the  idol  Baal.  The  pro- 
phet Hosea  describes  the  prevalent  idolatry  in  these  remarkable 
words,  which  particularly  explain  the  nature  of  this  ceremony, 
Hosea  xiii.  2.  And  now  they  sin  more  and  more,  and  have  made  them 
molten  images : — they  say  of  them,  Let  the  men  that  sacrifice  kiss  the 

TALVES. 

It  is  true,  that  the  practice  of  this  country  does  not  command  the 
men  that  swear  or  sacrifice  to  kiss  the  calves  ;  but  it  requires,  what 
is  to  the  full  as  contemptible  and  superstitious,  that  they  shall  kiss 
ihe  skin,  whether  of  sheep  or  of  calf. 

I  have  no  doubt,  however,  if  we  once  had  a  few  sensible  and 
liberal-minded  Christians,  men  raised  above  the  petty  prejudices 
which  govern  the  practice  of  others,  exalted  to  influence  in  our 
lan*l,  they  could,  considering  the  generous  character  of  our  public 
institutions,  with  facility  correct  the  evil  of  multiplying  unneces- 
sary oaths,  and  of  administering  them  in  this  antichristian  manner. 
Mr.  Woodhouse,  in  proof  of  the  scriptural  mode  of  swearing,  pro- 
duced by  our  Saviour, — by  holding  up  to  the  Most  High  God  the 
right  hand,  quotes  Gen.  xiv.  22.  Deut  xxsii.  40.  Ezek.  xx.  5.  and 
Isa.  Ixii.  8. 


THE    SEVEN   THUNDERS.  307 

l\ordy  what  shall  he  the  end  of  these  things  ?  And  he 
saidy  Go  thij  naj/,  Daniel:  for  the  words  arc  closed  up 
and  sealed  till  the  time  of  the  end. 

Tljt^e  1 1  Hinders,  of  course,  liave  respect  to  the 
events  wliicli  bring  to  a  close  the  antichristian  period, 
ifter  the  lapse  of  1260  years:  they  accordingly  syn- 
chronize witii  the  thunders  of  the  seventh  trumpet, 
afterwards  heard  by  the  apostle ;  or  rather,  they  are 
identified  witli  the  thunders  of  both  the  seventh 
trumpet  and  the  seventh  vial,  which  happen  at  the 
tune  of  the  end,  for  the  destruction  of  the  man  of 
sin,  preparatory  to  the  millennium.*  To  this  joyful 
period,  the  oath  of  our  exalted  Saviour  hath  un- 
doubted reference,  as  the  era  in  which  the  mystery 
of  God  shall  be  finished,  and  until  which  the  man 
of  sin  shall  be  permitted  to  stand.  This  is  evident 
from  the  words,  verse  7.  he  hath  declared  as  good 
NEW  s  to  his  servants  the  prophets:  for  you  are  to  be 
informed  that  the  verb  used  in  the  text  conveys  this 
idea — ivyi-yyiXia-i;  and  is  accordingly  to  be  applied  to 
that  period  for  which  the  saints  have  been  so  long 
waiting  in  hope,  and  the  approach  of  which  they 
consider  as  glad  tidings. 

3.  Let  us  take  a  view  of  the  apostle  John,  as  he 
•  ceives  the  little  book  from  his  Redeemer's  hand. 

Verses  8 — 11.  And  the  voice  which  I  heard  from 
heaven  spake  unto  me  again,  and  said.  Go  and  take  the 
little  book  which  is  open  in  the  hand  of  the  angel  which 
•<tandelh  upon  the  sea  and  upon  the  earth.     And  I  went 

"  Compare  xi.  10.  with  xvi.  18. 


308  THE    LITTLE    BOOK.        *  ^ 

unto  the  angel,  and  said  unto  him,  Give  me  the  little  hook. 
And  he  said  unto  me,  Take  it,  and  cat  it  up :  and  it 
shall  make  thy  helly  hitter,  hid  it  shall  he  in  thy  mouth 
sweet  as  honey.  And  I  took  the  little  hook  out  of  the 
angel's  hand,  and  ate  it  up;  and  it  was  in  my  mouth 
sweet  as  honey:  and  as  soon  as  I  had  eaten  it,  my  belly 
was  hitter.  And  he  said  unto  me.  Thou  must  prophesy 
again  before  many  peoples,  and  nations,  and  tongues, 
and  kings. 

This  transaction  is  similar  to  what  took  place  when 
the  Lord  called  Ezekiel,  by  the  Assyrian  river, 
Chebar,  to  go  and  prophesy  to  the  captive  Israelites, 
then  suffering  under  the  rod  of  the  tyrant  of  Chal- 
dea— the  first  of  the  four  beasts  of  scripture  pre- 
diction.* 

Unto  that  prophet  was  presented,  in  a  miraculous 
manner,  a  hand  holding  a  roll  of  a  book  spread  out, 
and  containing  a  message  of  mourning  and  wo.  He 
too,  w  as  caused  to  eat  that  roll;  and  he  said,  like  John 
the  apostle.  Then  did  I  eat  it;  and  it  was  in  my  mouth 
as  honey  for  sweetness.  To  eat,  is  to  receive,  after 
due  preparation,  food  into  the  stomach,  and  when 
applied  to  intellectual  subjects,  signifies  to  receive 
and  understand.  Jer.  xv.  16.  Thy  words  were  found, 
and  I  did  eat  them;  and  thy  word  was  unto  me  the  joy 
and  rejoicing  of  mine  heart. 

The  apostle  receives  in  this  instance,  for  himself, 
and  for  his  successors  in  the  gospel  ministry,  a  com- 
mission suited  to  the  exigencies  of  the  church,  the 
knowledge  and  reception  of  which  was  pleasant,  al- 

*  Ezek.  ii.  8—10,  and  iii.  1—3 


ITS    CONTENTS.  301) 

llioiigli  the  ciiTiimsiances  of  the  case,  and  the  con- 
dition of  hot'"  the  world  and  the  church  jnarked  out 
in  the  commission,  were  painful  to  a  benevolent 
heart.  Tlie  acquisition  of  knowledge  upon  interest- 
ing sul)jects,  is  itself  desirable  and  highly  gratifying; 
but  to  foresee  the  sorrows  and  the  sufferings  of  the 
people  of  God,  is  painful  to  Christian  sensibility. 

The  litlh  book  is  pleasant  in  the  mouth,-  but  it  em- 
bitters the  stomach.  Often,  it  is  our  mercy  to  be  ig- 
norant of  futurity. 

The  extent  of  the  commission,  given  by  the  Re- 
deemer along  with  the  little  open  book,  and  under 
which  we  now  in  the  interpretation  of  that  book,  are 
called  to  act,  merits  regard — "  Thou  must  prophesy 
before  many  peoples,  anil  nations,  and  tongues,  and 
kings."  It  is  required,  as  an  indispensable  duty,  to 
deliver  with  plainness  and  fidelity,  this  message,  how- 
ever it  may  affect  the  great  commonwealths  of  the 
nations,  and  their  respective  constituted  authorities. 
But  we  proceed, 

II.  To  unfold  the  contents  of  the  book.  The  whole 
of  this,  ^i^Ku^iSiov  1q  tiviuyfji^ivov,  little  open  book,  is  con- 
tained in  chap.  xi.  17.  It  is  not  a  part  of  the  sixth 
trumpet,  nor  yet  of  the  seventh,  althougli,  for  the 
reasons  already  pointed  out,  it  is  introduced  between 
them.  Being  perfectly  distinct  from  both,  we  are 
not  therefore,  to  embarras  the  interpretation  with 
any  attempt  to  reduce  it  under  these  trumpets. 
True,  indeed,  it  describes  events  cotemporaneous 
with  those  which  are  predicted  by  the  last  three  an- 
gels of  the  trumpets ;  and  it  accordingly  synchro- 


310  THE    LITTLE    BOOK. 

nizos  with  the  three  great  woes:  but  while  the  object 
of  these  is  to  record  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire 
in  the  east  and  in  the  rvest,  the  object  of  the  little 
book  ii3  to  give  a  miniature  history  of  the  state  of 
religion  in  the  western  empire  only,  during  the  nv 
markable  period  of  1260  years,  in  which  the  great 
apostacy  prevailed  in  opposition  to  true  godliness. 

This  part  of  the  Apocalypse,  therefore,  describes 
A  heathenish  church,  in  league  with  a  tyrannical  ami 
idolatrous  empire,  opposed  to  a  small  company  of  true 
Christians y  denominated  the  witnesses:  and  it  exhibits 
the  contest  between  these  parties,  and  the  ultimate 
result. 

Such  are  the  contents  of  this  open  book;  and  we 
proceed  to  exhibit  them  in  order. 

1.  The  heathenish  church,  and  beast  of  the  pit« 
Chap.  xi.  1 ,  ^.  And  there  was  given  to  me  a  reed  like 
unto  a  rod:  and  the  angel  stood,  saying.  Rise,  and 
measure  the  temple  of  God,  and  the  altar,  and  them, 
that  worship  therein.  But  the  court  which  is  without 
the  temple  leave  out,  and  measure  it  not;  for  it  is  given 
unto  the  Gentiles:  and  the  holy  city  shall  they  tread 
under  foot  forty  and  two  months. 

The  command  addressed  in  these  words,  by  the 
Head  of  the  church,  the  Angel  of  the  covenant,  to 
the  apostle  John,  is  intended  for  all  the  ministers  of 
the  gospel.  It  was  not  expected  that  the  beloved 
disciple,  who  received  in  Patmos  this  revelation, 
should  have  his  days  prolonged  to  the  period  de- 
signated in  the  prophecy.  His  successors,  in  the 
public  service  of  the  church  of  God,  are  of  course 


THE    HEATHEN   CHURCH.  ill 

the  persons  to  whom  it  belongs  to  see  this  part  of 
the  will  of  Ciocl  carried  into  due  effect. 

For  this  purpose,  the  instrument  of  definite  ad- 
measurement is  given  to  them — a  reed  like  unto  a 
rod.  The  Hebrew  nip  wlience  are  derived  the 
Greek  K«vwv,  and  the  English  word  cancy  was  both 
straight  and  light,  and  a  fit,  as  well  as  the  common 
instrument  of  measuring :  and  like  our  rod,  or  pole, 
it  was  of  definite  length — six  ells,  of  six  hand- 
breadths  each. 

This  symbol  is  borrowed  from  Ezek.  xl.  5.  and  the 
reed  }M\otfMf  given  in  this  text  is  to  be  applied  to  the 
same  purpose  of  measuring  the  temple  of  God,  the 
altar,  and  the  worshippers. 

The  temple  is  the  church  of  God,  in  her  regular 
New  Testament  organization.  Tlie  altar,  as  it  was 
the  place  upon  which  oflerings  were  presented,  is  the 
symbol  of  divine  worship.  The  jvorshippers  are 
themselves  also  to  be  measured  by  the  sacred  rule. 

The  measuring  reedj  is  the  word  of  God  given  in 
the  scriptures;  and  the  ministry  are  commanded  by 
the  Head  of  the  church,  to  apply  that  word  faithfully 
to  Christian  societies;  to  their  forms  of  religious 
Avorship ;  and  to  the  character  of  their  members,  en- 
joying Christian  privileges.  To  the  law,  and  to  the 
testimony;  if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  word,  it  is 
because  there  is  no  light  in  them.  This  duty  of  high 
importance  at  all  times,  is  at  the  present  period  of 
distraction,  contention,  and  sufferings,  become  more 
interesting  than  ever:  because  the  great  body  of 
those  who  bear  tlie  Christian  name,  who  occupy  the 
court  around  the  temple,  and  the  whole  of  the  great 
city  of  Jpni^alem,  are  cut  off*  from  any  part  among 


312  fHE    LITTLE    BOOK. 

the  true  worshippers,  who  worship  the  Father  in  spi- 
rit and  in  truth. 

"  Measuring  the  servants  of  God,  is  equivalent  to 
sealing  them.  The  unmeasured  tenants  of  the  outer 
court,  and  the  unsealed  men  throughout  the  Roman 
empire,  are  alike  the  votaries  of  the  apostacy :  while 
they  that  were  measured,  and  they  that  were  sealed, 
are  the  saints  mho  refused  to  he  partakers  of  its 
abominations  y^ 

These  votaries  of  the  apostacy,  we,  in  this  con- 
nexion, denominate,  the  heathenish  church. 

They  have  reduced  the  Christian  system,  as  by 
themselves  professed,  into  a  resemblance  to  the 
heathen  superstition;  and  the  very  name  heathen,  is 
given  to  them  in  this  text.  Verse  8.  But  the  court 
which  is  without  the  temple  leave  out,  and  measure  it 
not;  for  it  is  given  unto  the  Gentiles — 7o<f  gSvaa-/,  the 
heathen.  These  words  of  the  great  angel,  Jesus 
Christ,  furnish  us,  indeed,  with  three  arguments  to 
prove,  that  the  body  of  the  population  of  Christen- 
dom is,  during  the  specified  period,  to  beconsidered 
as  an  outcast  apostate  church. 

1.  The  ministers  of  Christ  are  commanded  by 
himself,  to  cast  out  from  the  true  church,  those  who 
worship  in  the  outer  court — "Ek^aKz  is  not  merely  leave 
out,  but,  cast  out.  It  is  not  a  simple  reprobation, 
but  a  complete  exclusion. 

2.  They  are  not  to  be  measured  by  the  servants  of 
God.     I'hey  are  neither  directed  by  the  word  of 

^  Faber,  Vol.  11.  p.  49. 


THE  HEATHEN  CHURCH.  313 

irutli,  nor  sanctified  by  it;  and  are  consequently  like 
the  iinsealeil  sinful  world. 

3.  Both  the  unmeasured  courty  and  tlie  great  city 
itself,  tlie  holy  city  Jerusalem,  are  given  to  the 
heathen,  to  be  occupied  and  oppressed  by  them  for  a 
specified  time.  AVhat  is  usually  called  the  Christian 
church,  is  thus  represented  as  given  to  the  heathen 
for  forty  and  two  prophetic  months.  We  have  of 
course  a  prediction,  that  the  churches  of  the  nations — 
the  Roman  Catholic  church,  should  be  considered  as  out- 
cast, apostate,  and  heathenish,  for  the  space  of  1 260 
years.* 


*  Tlie  church  of  Rome  will  be  described  hereafter  in  these  lec- 
tures. In  the  meantime,  I  transcribe  the  following  passage  from  a 
well-kuoAvn  historian.  "  The  images  of  those  who,  during  their 
lives,  had  acquired  the  reputation  of  uncommon  sanctity,  were  now 
honoured  with  a  particular  worship  in  several  places;  and  many 
imagined  that  this  worship  drew  down  into  the  images  the  propi- 
tious presence  of  the  saints  or  celestial  beings  they  represented; 
deluded,  perhaps,  into  this  idle  fancy,  by  the  crafty^  fictions  of  the 
heathen  priests,  who  had  published  the  same  thing  concerning  the 
statues  of  Jupiter  and  Mercury.  As  there  were  none  in  these 
times  to  hinder  the  Christians  from  retaining  the  opinions  of  their 
pagan  ancestors  concerning  departed  souls,  heroes,  demons,  tem- 
ples, and  such  like  matters,  and  even  transferring  them  into  their 
religious  services;  and  as,  instead  of  entirely  abolishing  the  rites 
and  institutions  of  ancient  times,  these  institutions  were  still  ob- 
served with  only  some  slight  alterations;  all  this  swelled  of  neces- 
sity the  torrent  of  superstitiou,  and  deformed  the  beauty  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  worship  with  those  corrupt  remains  of  pagan- 
ism, which  still  subsist  in  a  certain  church. 

It  will  not  be  improper  to  observe  here,  that  the  famous  pagan 
doctrine,  concerning  the  purijication  of  departed  .fow/v,  by  means  of 

2  a 


.314  THE    LITTLE   BOOK. 

This  heathen  church  is  described  as  in  league  with 
the  fourlh  beasU  the  civil  power  of  the  Roman 
empire. 

The  first  three  beasts  of  Daniel's  vision  were  passed 
away  long  before  the  time  of  the  little  book ;  and 
the  fourlh  alone  remained  in  power.  This  beast  is 
described  as  espousing  the  cause  of  the  heathen 
church,  and  making  a  successful  war  upon  those 
who  bear  witness  to  the  truth,  in  opposition  to  the 
apostacy  supported  by  the  coalition  between  church 
and  state.  Yerse  7.  The  beast  that  ascendeth  out  of 
the  bottomless  pit  shall  make  war  against  themy  and 
shall  overcome  them,  and  kill  them. 

This  symbol,  beast,  has  been  already  explained  to 
designate  tyrannical  and  irreligious  power. ^  And,  in 
the  present  case,  it  must  apply  to  the  powers  which 
exist  throughout  the  Roman  empire,  after  its  division 
into  several  kingdoms.  The  origin  of  antichristian 
power  was  formerly  described,  2  Thess.  ii.  9.  Whose 
coming  will  be  after  the  working  of  Satan.  In  this 
place  it  is  said  to  be  from  the  abyss.  (e>mo\  iK%g  ct/Suo-a-s?, 
the  bottomless  pit — a  fit  coadjutor  for  a  heathenish 
church.  I  shall  be  under  the  necessity  of  explaining 
more  particularly,  in  the  course  of  the  next  lecture, 
the  character  of  the  beast  of  the  pit,  who,  with  his  ten 

a  certain  kind  oi  fire,  was  more  amply  explained  and  confirmed 
now  than  it  had  formerly  been.  Every  body  knows,  that  this  doc- 
trine proved  an  inexhaustible  source  of  riches  to  the  clergy  through 
the  succeeding  ages,  and  that  it  still  enriches  the  Romish  church 
with  its  nutritious  streams.  Mosheini's  Church  History,  Vol.  II 
page  37— 39.     Phil.  1797. 

*  See  Lecture  II.  page  48. 


THE    BEAST   OF   THE    BOTTOMLESS    PIT.  315 

horns,  persecuted  the  saints;  and  in  alliance  wilh  an 
apostate  church,  trampled  upon  tlie  interests  of  the 
holy  city,  and  put  to  death  the  witnesses  of  our  Lord. 
It  is  suflicient  now  to  reinarlv,  that  one  of  the  con- 
tending parties  held  out  to  view,  in  this  ciiapter,  is 
represented  to  be  fhe  aniichristian  aposfacy,  embracing 
both  the  (cdesinstical  and  civil  powers  of  the  nestern 
Roman  empire — "  the  heathenish  church,  and  beast  of 
the  pit." 

In  my  representation  of  this  foriuidable  and  com- 
plicated system  of  opposition  to  Christianity,  I  am 
supported  by  the  best  expositors.  Bishop  Newton 
has  these  words,  "  Though  the  inner  conrty  which  in- 
cludes the  smaller  number,  was  Measured,  yet  the 
outer  court,  which  implies  the  far  greater  part,  was 
/eft  out  and  refected,  as  being  in  the  possession  of 
Christians  only  in  name,  but  Gentiles  in  worship  and 
practice,  who  profaned  it  with  heathenish  superstition 
and  idolatry:  and  they  shall  tread  under  foot  the  holy 
city,  they  shall  trample  upon,  and  tyrannize  over  the 
church  of  Christ,  for  the  space  of  forty  and  two 
months.  The  beast  that  ascendeth  out  of  the  abyss,  the 
tyrannical  power  of  Rome,  of  which  we  shall  hear 
more  hereafter,  shall  make  war  against  them,  (the 
witnesses) — They  shall  be  subdued  and  oppressed  ; 
be  degraded  from  all  power  and  authority ;  be  de- 
prived of  all  offices  and  functions,  and  be  politically 
dead." 

Mr.  Faber  says,  "  that  the  outer  court  contained 
only  those  nominal  Christians,  who  in  practice  were 
Gentiles,  and  who  were  unworthy  the  notice  of  a  Being 
of  infinite  purity.     The  outer  court  was  not  formally 


316  THE    LITTLE    BOOK. 

given  unto  them  by  the  secular  power,  till  the  sainls 
were  given  into  the  hand  of  the  little  papal  horn  in  the 
year  606,  and  till  the  apostacy  became  dominant. 
The  foe  that  slays  the  witnesses,  is  styled  the  least 
of  the  bottomless  pit:  and  this  beast  will  be  found 
upon  examination,  to  be  the  first  beast  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse, or  the  beast  with  seven  heads  and  ten  horns. 
He  is  the  same  as  Daniel's/owrf  A  beast,  or  the  Roman 
empire^ 

It  is  time,  however,  to  turn  your  attention  to  the 
other  party  in  the  contest. 

II.  The  Witnesses. 

These  are  a  small  company  of  true  Christians, 
defending  the  interests  of  religion  against  all  oppo- 
sition, and  frequently  sealing  with  their  blood  the 
testimony  which  they  hold. 

You  will  no  doubt  be  desirous  to  understand  their 
eJiaracter,  and  become  acquainted  with  their  history. 
It  is  the  principal  object  of  the  little  book  to  grati- 
fy this  desire.  In  examining  its  contents,  and  in 
meditating  upon  the  representations  which  it  makes, 
you  will  know  by  experience,  that  it  is  well  calcu- 
lated to  excite  the  opposite  affections  of  gladness 
and  grief.  It  is  sweet  in  the  mouthy  and  makes  the 
heart  bitter.     I  lay  the  whole  passage  before  you. 

Verses  3 — 12.  And  I  will  give  power  unto  my  two 
witnesses,  and  they  shall  prophesy  a  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  threescore  days,  clothed  in  sackcloth.  These 
are  the  two  olive-trees,  and  the  two  candlesticks  stand- 
ing before  the  God  of  the  earth.     And  if  any  man 


THE   TWO    WITNESSES.  317 

will  hurt  them,  he  must  in  this  manner  be  killed.  These 
have  power  to  shut  heaven,  that  it  rain  not  in  the  deiys 
of  their  prophecy:  and  have  power  over  water Sy  to  turn 
them  to  hlood,  find  to  smite  the  earth  with  all  plagues  eis 
often  eis  they  will,  and  when  theij  shall  have  finished 
thdr  testimony,  the  beast  that  ascendeth  out  of  the  bot- 
tomless pit  shall  make  war  against  them,  and  shall 
overcome  them,  and  kill  them.  Ami  their  dead  bodies 
shall  be  in  the  street  of  the  great  city,  which  spiritually 
is  calleel  Sodom  and  Egypt,  where  also  our  Lord  was 
crncijied.  And  they  of  the  people,  and  kindreds,  and 
tongues,  and  nations,  shall  sec  their  dcael  bodies  three 
dxiys  and  an  half,  and  shall  not  suffer  their  dead  bodies 
to  he  put  in  graves.  And  they  that  dwell  upon  the 
earth  shall  rejoice  over  them,  and  make  merry,  and 
shall  send  gifts  one  to  another:  because  these  two  pro- 
phets tormented  them  that  dwelt  on  the  earth.  And 
after  three  days  and  an  half  the  Spirit  of  life  from 
God  entered  into  them,  and  they  stood  up  on  their  feet; 
and  great  fear  fell  upon  them  which  saw  them.  And 
they  heard  a  great  voice  from  heaven,  saying  unto 
them.  Come  up  hither.  And  they  asceneled  up  to  heaven 
in  a  cloud:  and  their  enemies  beheld  them. 

Such  is  the  information  concerning  the  witnesses, 
with  which  we  are  furnished  in  this  prophecy.  We 
shall  endeavour  to  ascertain, 

I.  Their  character,  in  order  to  assist  in  discovering 
their  persons  in  the  light  of  ecclesiastical  history. 

Witness  is  a  term  borrowed  from  the  courts  of 
law ;  and  is  applied  to  the  person  who  declares  facts 
upon  oath  for  the  purpose  of  deciding  controversies. 


318  THE    LITTLE   BOOK. 

An  oath  for  confirmation  is  to  them  an  end  of  all  strife.* 
The  word  Mx^vg  or  i^x^lv^,  witness  or  martyr,  is  de- 
rived from  MApjj,  manusy  the  handjf  because  witnesses 
anciently  used  to  lift  up  their  hands  in  giving  evi- 
dence upon  oath.J     God's  cause,  the  Christian  reli- 
gion, is  in  trial  before  the  world,  the  tribunal  of 
public  opinion  among  the  nations.     It  is  opposed  al- 
ways by  corrupt  society;  and  those  who  give  their 
testimony  in  its  favour  are  witnesses  for  God.     At 
the  time,  referred  to  in  this  part  of  the  Apocalypse, 
antichrist  opposes  Jesus  Christ;  and  the  Saviour  em- 
ploys ceilain  persons  to  give  testimony  against  the 
whole  claims  of  the  man  of  sin — /  will  give  power 
unto  MY  witnesses.     In  former  ages,  they  who  sup- 
ported the  cause  of  Jehovah  against  the  pretensions 
of  idols,  were  called  witnesses.^     The  apostles  and 
pastors  of  the  primitive  church  were  Christ's  wit- 
nesses against  Jewish  unbelief  and  misrepresenta- 
tion.ll     And  those  who  suffered  death  for  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus,  rather  than  deny  the  truth,  are  in 
every  age  emphatically  called  witnesses  or  martyrs.^ 
The  witnesses  in  the  case  before  us,  have,  however, 
a  distinguishing  character.     They  give  testimony  to 
the  truth  in  opposition  to  the  antichristian  system : 
and  as  we  have  shown,  that  this  system  is  described 
in  the  little  book  before  us,  as  an  apostate  church  in 
league  with  the  least  of  the  pit,  these  witnesses  are  of 
course  opposed  to  the   antichristian  corruptions  of 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  polity  throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  the  Latin  Roman  empire. 

'    Heb.  vi.  16.     j  See  Hedericus,  and  Damm.  Coll.  1495. 

I  See  Parkhurst,  and  page  305  of  these  Lectures. 

0  Isa.  xliii.  10.     !!  Acts  x.  39.     TF  Acts  xxii,  20.    Rev.  xvii.  ti. 


CHARACTER    OF   THE    WITNESSES.  :il9 

This  is  their  distinctive  character.  For  this;  ex- 
press purpose  they  are  introduced;  and  every  asser- 
tion concerning  them  contirms  this  to  be  tlie  case. 

1.  They  are  distinguishedy  as  a  part  from  the  whole, 
from  the  great  body  of  those  who  are  to  be  consi- 
dered as  true  Christians,  and  even  from  the  visible 
ehurch  of  God  in  general  at  this  period.  They  are 
Christians;  and  they  belong  to  the  true  visible 
church :  but  they  are  a  distinct  class  of  Christians  in 
the  communion  of  the  visible  church.  "  These 
witnesses  differ  as  much  from  their  contemporaries, 
the  144,000  sealed  ones,  as  Elijah  differed  from  the 
7000  in  Israel  in  his  time,  *  who  did  not  bow  the  knee 
to  Baal.'  Those  testify  openly  against  the  antichris- 
tianism  of  tlie  papacy ;  while  these  abstain  from  the 
corruptions,  and  worship  God  sincerely  in  secret"* 

They  stand  in  the  inner  temple,  but  they  are  dis- 
tinguished from  the  measured  temple^  altar ,  and  wor- 
shippers,  verse  1 ,  and  from  the  woman  and  her  seed, 
chap.  xii.  14 — 17.  These  are  preserved  completely 
throughout  the  period  of  1260  years,  until  the  mil- 
lennium ;  but  the  witnesses  lie  dead  three  years  and  a 
half.  God  is  never,  for  a  moment,  without  a  people 
upon  earth  ;t  and  the  visible  church  is  an  inde- 
structible society :%  but  these  witnesses  are  actually 
killed  by  the  beast. 

2.  They  are  represented  as  principally  engaged 
in  the  contest  with  the  beast,  verses  5,  6.  They  bear 
the  principal  suffering  in  the  contest,  verse  7.    They 

•   Frazer's  Key,  page  148.  Phil.  1802. 
^  Psa.  cji,  28.    X  Matlh.  xvi.  IC. 


320  THE    LITTLE    BOOK. 

occupy  even  in  antichristian  estimation,  the  place  of 
most  importance:  for  they  are  most  feared;  their 
death  affords  the  greatest  satisfaction;  they  suffer 
the  chief  reproach,  a  refusal  of  the  rights  of  sepul- 
ture to  their  slain  bodies :  and  inasmuch  as  they  in- 
flicted, in  their  life,  the  greatest  torments  upon  their 
antichristian  enemies,  these  enemies  are,  at  their  re- 
surrection, filled  with  peculiar  alarm,  verses  8 — 11. 

3.  As  king,  horns,  &c.  represent  in  prophetic 
style,  not  an  individual,  but  a  succession  of  men  in 
power,  so  witness  is  not  to  be  applied  to  certain  in- 
dividuals, but  to  a  succession  of  faithful  men,  op- 
posing the  antichristian  corruptions  both  in  church 
and  state,  throughout  the  gloomy  period  of  1260 
years.  These  witnesses  are  two  in  number;  because 
one  is  not  sufficient  according  to  the  law*  to  prove 
the  guilt  of  the  antichrist;  and  because  there  were 
as  few  employed  as  would  be  sufficient  to  attest  the 
truth,  and  protest  against  the  perversions  of  the 
Christian  system. 

There  is  besides  in  this  number,  two,  an  allusion  to 
well-known  characters  who  appeared,  two  and  two, 
and  who  exemplified  in  their  own  day,  and  taught 
with  fidelity,  that  doctrine  which  antichrist  remark- 
ably opposes,  and  which  these  witnesses  are  au- 
thorized to  maintain — the  doctrine  which  requires 
that  man  should  regulate  all  his  social  concerns  by 
the  principles  and  precepts  of  revealed  religion. 
This  doctrine  has  always  been  opposed  by  the  sup- 
porters of  the  man  of  sin;  and  in  direct  hostility  to 
it,  the   antichristian   system  has   been  established. 

*  Deut.  xvii.  6.     2  Cor.  xiii.  1- 


<:HARACTFR    OF    TIIF    WITNESSES.  32] 

The  tivo  orcal  branches  of  that  system,  the  heathen- 
ish  church  and  beast  of  the  abyss,  have  of  course 
corrupted  the  moral  order  of  the  two  great  kinds  of 
society    in   Christendom,    civil    and    ecclesiastical. 
They  who  bear  testimony  against  this  two-fold  cor- 
ruption of  religion  and  morals,  are  not  improperly 
called   twOy   in   allusion  to  several  remarkable   in- 
stances of  two  distinguished  cotemporaries,  who  had 
applied  true  religion  both  to  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
polity.     Moses  and  Aaron  are  well  known  to  those 
who  read  the  Apocalypse.     These  two,  the  one  king 
in  Jeshurun*  and  the  other  high  priest  of  the  sanc- 
tuary,! were  eminent  witnesses  of  the  religious  du- 
ties of  the  church  and  state.     They  are  referred  to 
in  the  description  of  our  two  witnesses,  verse  6.  as 
they  who  in  the  land  of  Egypt  exhibited  power  over 
wcfters  to  turn  them  to  blood,  and  to  smite  the  earth  with 
all  plagues.X     Elijah  and  Elisha  were  distinguished, 
cotemporaries,  who  restored  the  law,   purged   the 
sanctuary,  and  made  Ahab  to  tremble  on  the  throne 
of  Israel.     They  contended  for  the  reformation  of 
society,  both  in  church  and  state,  and  are  referred  to 
as  possessing  the  spirit  of  these  witnesses  whose  cha- 
racter we  are  now  investigating,  verses  5,  6.     To 
bring  fire  from  heaven  to  devour  the  enemy,  and  to 
prevent  the  refreshing  rain  from  descending  on  the 
earth,  are  a  reference  to  the  actions  of  Elijah,  whose 
mantle  descended  upon  Elisha.'J    There  are  two  other 
remarkable  witnesses,  of  whom  these  are  the  legitimate 

'   Deut.  x)^iii.  5.     f  Exod.  xxvlii.  1.  andxxix.  21. 

\  Exod.  vii.  17.     §  1  Kings  xvii.  1. 

James  v.  17.      2  Kings  i.  10—1?. 

2  R 


322  THE    LITTLE    BOOK 

successors,  referred  to  in  this  prophecy.  I'hey  are 
Joshua  the  high  priest,  and  Zerubbabel  prince  of 
Judah,  who  returned  from  the  Chaldean  captivity, 
and  actually  restored  the  moral  order  of  the  house 
of  Jacob,  re-establishing  their  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
polity.*     This  fact  leads  me  to  state  as  the 

4th  Consideration,  to  show  that  we  have  not  mis- 
taken the  character  of  the  witnesses,  the  allusion  in 

*  "  The  prophets  are  particularly  described,  verse  2.  by,  1.  their 
special  work  to  witness  and  give  testimony  for  Christ,  against  the 
corruptions  and  usurpations  of  these  times :  so  ministers  are  called 
witnesses,  Acts  i.  7,  8.  Tlieir  Avork  should  be  to  be  witnesses  for 
mistaken  truth,  and  against  antichrist. 

"  They  are  said  to  be  tivo^  1.  because  two  witnesses  arc  the  least 
that  confirm  a  truth,  but  they  are  sufficient;  so  it  importeth  they 
shall  not  be  many,  yet  sufficient  to  testify  against  these  evils  filly. 
2.  Because  of  allusion  in  the  words  following,  where  something  of 
three  couple  of  famous  witnesses.is  attributed  to  these  ttvo  mentioned 
here ;  in  allusion,  I  say,  to  God's  way  of  making  use  of  two,  in  all 
dangerous  periods  of  the  church,  viz.  Joshua  and  Zerubbabel,  Mo- 
ses and  Aaron,  Elias  and  Elisha;  in  respect  to  which  three  couple, 
the  following  description  of  the  witnesses  here,  is  holden  forth  in 
the  effect  of  their  prophesying,  both  to  friends  and  enemies ;  viz. 
1.  They  are  as  Zerubbabel  and  Joshua,  ttvo  olive-trees,  Zech.  iv.  3. 
from  whom  droppeth  the  oil  to  keep  light  and  life  iu  the  two  can- 
dlesticks. 

"  2.  If  any  will  oppose  them,  fuc  procecdcth  from  them,  as  Elias 
destroyed  the  two  fifties,  2  Kings  i.  10.  So  their  enemies  shall  be 
destroyed  as  surely,  and  their  word  and  threatenings  shall  take  effect 
on  them. 

"  3.  Their  power  is  described  by  other  effects,  that  as  Elias,  by 
prayer,  prevailed  to  shut  heaven,  that  it  rained  not,  and  Moses  and 
Aaron  did  turn  waters  into  blood,  and  wrought  other  wonders  iu 
plaguing  of  Egypt,  so  shall  they  have."  Durham  on  the  Revelation 
page  496.     Glasgow,  1788. 


CHARACTER   OF   THE   WITNESSES.  32'i 

verse  4.  These  are  the  tno  olive-trees,  and  the  two 
eaiidksticks  standing  before  the  God  of  the  earth. 
Here  is  an  iininediale  reference  to  the  vision  of 
Zechariah  the  prophet,  at  the  restoration  from  the 
caj)tivity  of  .Tiidali,  chap.  iv.  A  candlestick  or 
lamp-bearer  of  gold,  uith  a  bowl  upon  the  top  of  it, 
Avhich  communicated  by  seven  distinct  pipes,  to  as 
many  lamps,  the  oil  which  it  contained,  appeared  to 
(he  prophet,  after  his  attention  had  been  excited  by 
an  angel.  That,  hoAvever,  Avhich  excited  his  curiosity 
most  forcibly,  was  what  respected  the  two  olive- 
trees.  These  stood,  one  upon  each  side  of  the  lamp- 
bearer,  emptying  golden  oil  out  of  themselves 
through  two  golden  pipes,  into  the  bowl  which  com- 
municated with  the  seven  several  lamps  of  this  splen- 
did object.  Three  several  times  did  the  prophet  ask 
of  the  angel  an  explanation  of  this  symbol.  At  last 
he  is  informed  that  these  two  olive-trees,  are  the  two 
anointed  ones,  or  sons  of  oil,  that  stand  by  the  Lord. 
These  olive-trees  represented  to  the  prophet,  for  the 
encouragement  of  the  emancipated  Israelitish  cap- 
tives, in  the  holy  work  of  reform  in  which  they  were 
engaged,  the  two  distinguished  anointed  servants  of 
the  Lord,  Joshua  the  higli  priest,  and  Zerubbabel 
the  governor,  both  celebrated  by  name,  and  recom- 
mended also  as  worthy  of  confidence  in  chapters 
3d  and  4th.     They  represent  the  two  great  standing 

"  It  is  a  sufficient  reason  why  these  witnesses  are  said  to  be  two, 
as  two  were  the  legal  number  of  witnesses,  and  as  in  the  times  of 
the  ancient  projjhets  on  greater  occasions,  two  were  usually  joined 
together,  as  Moses  and  Aaron  in  Egypt;  Elijah  and  Elisha  in  the 
apostacy  of  the  tribes;  Zerubbabel  and  Joshua,  after  the  Babylonish 
captivity."     Lowman. 


324  THE    LITTLE    BOOK. 

ordinances  of  God,  for  the  preservation  of  moral 
and  religious  order  in  the  human  family,  the  minis- 
try and  magistracy,  which  antichrist  is  endeavouring 
universally  to  corrupt.  The  two  witnesses  there- 
fore, standing  before  the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth, 
and  proclaiming  the  dignity  of  Jehovah-Jesus,  of 
whom  Joshua  and  Zerubbabel  were  eminent  types, 
in  the  two-fold  character  of  Head  of  the  church, 
and  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  oppose  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  antichrist,  who  having  usurped  the 
temple  of  God,  claims  also  the  right  of  disposing  of 
crowns  and  kingdoms. 

The  sons  of  oil  are,  accordingly,  those  who  main- 
tain and  promote  the  light  of  truth  respecting  the 
application  of  Christianity  to  the  social  order  of 
both  church  and  state.  They  are  the  two  candle- 
sticks, lamp-bcarerSy  because  they  proclaim  the  truth, 
and  hold  up  its  light  to  the  world.  They  are  the  two 
olive-treeSy  because  they  contend  for  those  ordinances, 
and  have  succeeded  to  the  spirit  of  those  men,  that 
by  divine  appointment  support  the  light  of  truth,  in 
its  sanctifying  influences  over  the  sanctuary  and  the 
throne. 

After  these  observations,  it  will  appear  unneces- 
sary to  enter  upon  a  formal  examination  of  the  se- 
veral opinions  which  have  been  offered  relatfve  to 
the  character  of  the  witnesses.^*     We  pass  on, 

f  1.  The  Old  and  New  Testament. 

12.  The  Old  and  New  Testament  churches. 

3.  The  Protestant  and  Greek  churches, 

lative  to  the  wit-     ^     4.  Some    two   distinguished  individuals— 

nesses.  j  Luther,  and  Calvin,  &c. 

I     5.  All  Clhristians,  or  the  Protestants. 

i^  6.  The  French  Republicans. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   WITNESSES.  325 

2.  To  the  history  of  \\\e  witnesses. 

Having  endeavoured  to  ascertain  the  character  of 
these  eminent  witnesses,  and  to  prove,  what  ought  to 
have  been  upon  first  sight  obvious  to  all,  that  they 
are  tlie  opponents  of  the  system  against  which  tliey 
testify — both  the  heathen  church  and  the  beastly  state 
of  civil  government  which  exists  throughout  the 
western  empire,  we  shall  take  a  view  of  their  history. 

The  time  o{  forty-two  months,  in  which  heathenism 
prevails  in  Christendom,  is  the  same  with  that  in 
which  the  witnesses  piophesy :  42  months  of  thirty 
days  each  amount  to  1260  days.  I  now  take  for 
granted,  what  I  shall  afterw^ards  prove,  that  these 
days  are  put  for  years,  and  that  they  are  to  be  dated 
from  the  year  606,  when  the  holy  city  was  put  under 
the  feet  of  the  man  of  sin,  by  the  authority  of  the 
supreme  head  of  the  empire.  It  follows,  that  the 
period  of  history  now  under  consideration,  is  from 
the  year  606  until  the  year  1866,  or  1843,  according 
to  the  rules  of  chronology  by  which  the  lengtli  of 
the  year  is  determined.* 

During  this  period,  which  is  now  drawing  near  its 
close,  the  sons  of  oil,  or  witnesses,  prophesied;  and 
this  consideration  ought  to  have  prevented  the  appli- 
cation of  the  prediction,  either  to  individual  men,  or 
to  any  society  which  did  not  exist  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  the  specified  time. 

They  are  said  to  prophesy,  not  because  they  are 
themselves  inspired,  but  because  they  act  under  the 
-direction  of  the  inspired  writings,  and  apply  the  pre- 
dictions to  their  proper  objects. 

"  This  question  must  be  hereafter  discussed. 


320  THE   LITTLE   BOOK. 

.  Their  clothing  is  sackcloths  because  they  are  la 
mourning — exposed  to  oppression — and  banished 
from  the  palaces  of  the  great,  where  those  dwell  who 
are  clothed  in  rich  attire.  They  are  habitually  per- 
secuted by  the  powers  of  this  world. 

The  witnesses  send  Jire  out  of  their  mouth,  when 
they  denounce  from  the  scriptures,  and  in  the  spirit 
of  true  religion,  just  judgments  upon  their  antichris- 
tian  enemies.  They  smite  the  earth  with  plagues, 
when  according  to  their  prayers  and  declarations, 
vengeance  comes  upon  the  advocates  of  the  apostacy, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  symbolical  earth.  They  tmii 
the  waters  into  Mood;  when  the  nations  are  made  the 
instruments  of  punishing  one  another  for  their  oppo- 
faition  to  the  testimony  of  .Jesus  Christ  in  the  hands 
of  his  servants,  as  will  more  fully  appear  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  seven  last  plagues.  All  these  judgments, 
indeed,  refer  to  the  seven  golden  vials;  and  the  wit- 
nesses co-operate,  throughout  the  whole  period  of 
their  history,  with  the  living  creature  Avho  gave  the 
rials  into  the  hand  of  the  angels.^ 

The  fact  of  the  faithful  contendings  of  such  cha- 
racters, during  this  whole  period — their  death — and 
their  resurrection,  are  the  most  interesting  subjects 
of  discussion,  relative  to  this  part  of  the  Apocalypse. 

Discarding  all  other  interpretations  of  the  wit- 
nesses of  this  little  hook,  we  maintain  that  they  are 

Those  faithful  men,  of  whatever  age,  nation,  or 
church,  who,  during  the  apostacy  of  the  Roman  empire, 
maintain  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  insist  upon 
their  application  to  the  whole  moral  order  of  society, 
both  in  church  and  state,  hearing  their  testimony  against 
*  See  Lecture  VIII.  page  235. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    WITNESSES.  327 

all  persons  and  comnmnUks  who  refuse  submission  to 
Messiah  our  Kin^. 

I  consider  all  other  representations  of  the  wit- 
nesses, as  confused,  unsatisfactory,  and  inconsistent, 
in  themselves;  and,  as  it  respects  the  several  systems 
upon  which  they  proceed,  private,  partial,  and  illibe- 
ral. ^Ye  ought  not  to  embrace,  among  the  few  select 
servants  of  our  Lord  wlio  prophesy  in  sackcloth, 
Ihose  splendid  heretical  establishments  of  the  na- 
tions, which  evidently  abuse  Christianity;  but  we 
ought  not  to  discard  from  their  fellowship,  those  men 
of  piety,  discernment,  and  fidelity,  who,  according  to 
their  several  circumstances  in  society,  wheresoever 
they  live,  or  may  have  lived,  are  found  engaged  in 
contending  against  the  great  antichristian  system  of 
the  Latin  empire,  and  vindicating  the  doctrines  and 
mediatorial  prerogatives  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Head  of 
the  church,  and  Governor  of  the  nations  of  the  earth, 

It  is  a  fact,  that  a  succession  of  such  characters 
has  always  existed  since  the  rise  of  the  man  of  sin. 

The  AYaldenses,  from  the  earliest  ages  of  anti- 
christian usurpation,  contended  against  the  enemy, 
and  resisted  in  open  warfare  the  power  of  the  beast. 
The  Bohemian  Brethren,  the  reformed  cantons  of 
Switzerland,  and  some  of  the  states  of  Germany,  re- 
sisted tyrannical  power,  and  papal  domination,  and 
gave  a  practical  example  of  their  op])osilion  to  the 
heathen  church,  and  the  beast  of  the  ]>lL.  Tlic  re- 
formers in  the  Netherlands  taught  the  principles  of 
the  Christian  faith  to  statesmen  and  warriors,  as  well 
as  to  church  members,  and  succeeded  once  in  wrest- 
ing from  the  man  of  sin,  for  a  time,  the  oppressed 
provinces  of  Holland. 


328  THE    LITTLE   BOOK. 

The  French  witnesses  were  numerous,  and  learn- 
ed, and  pious,  and  powerful ;  but  although  they  de- 
served success,  they  were  overcome.  The  age  of  the 
reformation  confessedly  exhibited,  very  extensively 
throughout  the  empire,  able  supporters  of  the  Chris- 
tian system,  who  laboured  for  the  establishment  of 
true  religion  in  church  and  state.  The  British  re- 
formers, at  the  time  in  which  the  venerable  Assembly 
of  Divines  sat  at  AVestminster,  exhibited  the  most 
accurate  and  comprehensive  system  of  truth  and  or- 
der which  has  yet  appeared  in  the  national  churches 
of  Europe ;  and  they  abundantly  exemplified  their 
testimony  against  the  beast  of  the  pit,  in  their  exer- 
tions to  purify  the  throne  as  well  as  the  sanctuary. 
For  this  purpose,  the  English  and  the  Scottish  Pres- 
byterians, entered  into  the  solemn  league  and  cove- 
nant, which  made  them  one  body  of  witnesses,  bound 
together  by  the  oath  of  God,  to  contend  even  unto 
extirpation  against  the  claims  of  antichrist  in  both 
church  and  state. 

The  United  States  of  America  feel  the  heat,  and 
rejoice  in  the  light  of  the  sacred  fire,  which  was  trans- 
ported by  their  fathers  across  the  Atlantic  ocean, 
when  the  British  horn  of  the  beast  of  the  pit  had  suc- 
ceeded in  overthrowing  the  holy  fabric  of  the  re- 
formation. Able  and  eminent  men  still  exist  among 
the  several  nations  and  churches,  contending  as  wit- 
nesses for  those  principles  which  are  destined  ulti- 
mately to  bless  the  moral  world.*     Such  witnesses 

*  The  history  of  the  true  witnesses  of  Christ  is  exceedingly  in- 
teresting, and  here  too  rapidly  sketched.  In  the  works  of  Usher 
and  of  Allix,  the  learned  reader  will  find  much  desirable  information 
on  the  subject.     Bishop  Newton's  dissertation  on  the  text,  is  re- 


THK    DEATH    OF    THE    WITNESSES.  329 

will  continue  to  prophesy  ruin  to  the  advocates  of 
the  anticln  istian  system,  and  deliverance  to  the  holy 
city  from  the  feet  of  oppression,  until  they  are  made 
to  seal  their  testimony  witli  their  blood. 
AVe  umst  now,  painful  as  it  is,  consider 

THE    DEATH    OF    THE    WITNESSES. 

This  alarming  event  is  described  in  the  following 
words,  verses  7 — 10.  "  And  when  they  shall  have 
iinished  theii- testimony,  the  beast  that  ascendeth  out 
of  the  bottomless  pit  shall  make  war  against  them, 
and  shall  overcome  them,  and  kill  thein.  And  their 
dead  bodies  shall  lie  in  the  street  of  the  great  city, 
which  spiritually  is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt,  where 

plelc  wifli  important  matter.  But  a  comprehensive  and  satisfactory 
account  ot'  the  two  witnesses  and  of  their  testimony,  from  the  rise 
of  antichrist  until  the  present  day,  would  be  a  very  valuable  docu- 
ment to  the  Christian  scholar.  It  would  furnish  an  account  of  the 
rcmnajit  of  the  faithful  as  distinguished  from  nominal  Christianity, 
in  the  first  place;  and  in  the  second  place,  an  account  of  those 
pious  and  i)ublic-spirited  men  who  testified  against  thrones  of  ini- 
quity. At  the  present  day,  these  two  witnesses,  according  to  my 
definition  of  them,  are  greatly  scattered  :  but  still,  there  are  many 
in  Europe,  and  not  a  few  in  the  United  States  of  America,  who, 
in  opposition  to  the  prevalent  errors  of  their  age,  have  raised  a  voice 
too  loud  not  to  be  heard,  too  distinct  not  to  be  understood,  and 
too  persuasive  not  to  be  respected,  both  in  defence  of  evangelical 
doctrine,  and  in  support  of  the  maxim,  that  religion  should  influ- 
ence the  political  as  well  as  the  ecclesiastical  conduct  of  man. 
Tlieir  names  and  their  testimony  to  this  truth,  deserve  to  be  dis- 
tinctly made  known*^n  a  history  of  the  witnesses.  For  such  a 
irk,  the  author  of  these  lectures  has  already  made  some  pre- 
raliou.  Should  his  life  be  spared,  he  may  hereafter,  unless 
auticipated  by  a  more  able  hand,  lay  it  l)t'rorc  the  public. 
2  S 


330  '  THE    LITTLE   BOOK, 

also  our  Lord  was  crucified.  And  they  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  kindreds,  and  tongues,  and  nations,  shall  see 
their  dead  bodies  three  days  and  an  half,  and  shall 
not  suffer  their  dead  bodies  to  be  put  in  graves. 
And  they  that  dwell  upon  the  earth  shall  rejoice 
over  them,  and  make  merry,  and  shall  send  gifts  one 
to  another,  because  these  two  prophets  tormented 
them  that  dwelt  on  the  earth." 

As  there  have  been  various  opinions  respecting 
the  witnesses  themselves,  there  have  been  different 
interpretations  given  of  this  interesting  part  of  tlieir 
history.  The  kind  of  death  which  they  suffer  must 
depend  upon  the  kind  of  life  and  action  which  belongs 
to  them :  for  death  is  the  extinction  of  life,  and  puts 
an  end  to  exertion.  The  power  also  which  kills;  the 
length  of  time  in  which  they  lie  dead  and  unburied ; 
the  place  and  the  timCy  in  which  they  are  put  to  death, 
must  all  be  explained  in  consistency  with  our  ideas  of 
the  witnesses  themselves.  An  error,  of  course,  in  de- 
signating their  character,  will  pervade  the  whole  expo- 
sition of  their  history.  This  will  account  for  the  great 
disagreement  among  the  expounders  of  prophecy 
upon  this  subject.     I  shall  lay  before  you  at  one  view. 

The  principal  opinions  concerning  the  death  of  the 
witnesses, 

1.  The  general  suppression  of  the  bible,  by  the 
Papists  and  Mahometans. 

2.  The  general  persecutions  of  Christians  by  pa- 
pal power  from  its  origin. 

3.  The  opposition  made  to  the  protestant   and 
Greek  churches  by  the  papacy. 


rHE    DEATH    OF    THE   AVI'I  NESSKS.  .'iVI 

4.  The  burning,  lor  lieresy,  of  John  Huss,  and 

Jeronio  of  Prague,  &c.  &c. 
:').  The  defeat  of  the  proteslanls  in  (he  battle  of 

Mulburg,  in  April,  1517. 

6.  Persecutionn  in  England,  undrr  Qnren  Mary, 
1553. 

7.  The  French  St.   Bartholomew's  massacre,  in 
1572. 

8.  The  persecution,  by  Lewis  XIV.  at  the  revo- 
cation of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  1685. 

9.  Persecutions  in  Piedmont,  ])y  the  duke  of  Sa- 
voy, in  168G. 

10.  The  opposition  to  Christianity,  by  the  French 

revolutionists,  1 792. 
Lastly,  some  terrible  persecution  which  is,  as  yet, 
1o  come. 

It  would  lead  me  too  far  from  the  immediate  ob- 
ject of  this  discourse,  should  I  attempt  to  examine 
minutely  each  of  these  opinions.  1  propose  only  to 
establisli  the  truth  of  that  which  represents  the  death 
of  the  witnesses  as  still  future,  and  thus  supersede 
the  necessity  of  discussing  any  otlier  hypothesis. 

In  adopting  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  confess  I  do 
not  follow  where  inclination  would  lead.  Could  I 
tind  it  consistent  with  the  word  of  God,  I  should 
prefer  to  exhibit  our  calamities  as  past,  than  hold 
out  to  your  fears  the  gloomy  side  of  the  picture. 
Even  in  this  case,  however,  the  fj  lends  of  God  ought 
not  to  be  discouraged.  Although  the  slaughter  of  tlie 
witnesses  is  yet  to  come,  the  cause  of  religion  will  ge- 
nerally prosper  henceforward  throughout  the  earth. 
The  immense  exertions  wliich  are  at  present  made 


332  THE    LITTLE    BOOK. 

to  send  the  word  of  life  among  the  nations,  and  the 
state  of  Christianity  already  in  places  to  which  the 
power  of  the  beast  does  not  extend,  secure  under 
the  divine  blessing  and  protection,  the  progress  of 
godliness  over  the  earth,  although  iniquity  shall 
have  a  short-lived  triumph  on  the  street  of  the  mys- 
tical Sodom.  The  nations,  within  the  symbolical 
earth,  which  are  to  be  immediately  affected  by  the 
approaching  catastrophe,  will  be  spared  until  they 
have  done  their  work  of  providing  elsewhere  a  place 
of  refuge  for  the  faithful.  And  our  own  country, 
remote  from  that  earth  and  from  the  power  of  the 
beast  of  the  pit,  will  remain  as  an  asylum  to  the  dis- 
persed saints,  at  the  time  when  the  witnesses  shall  be 
slain  in  their  native  land.  The  religion  of  Christ 
shall  still  continue  to  move  with  accelerated  velocity, 
and  the  number  of  its  votaries  shall  continue  to  in- 
crease, as  shall  afterwards  be  made  to  appear  from 
other  prophecies,  at  the  very  time  when  Satan  de- 
scends in  extraordinary  wrath,  because  his  time  is 
but  short,  to  animate  his  servant  the  beast  to  kill 
the  witnesses  of  Christ  against  antichrist.  In  a  very 
short  time  after  their  death  shall  they  arise  where 
they  fell,  and  even  there  obtain  the  power  over  their 
enemies, 

"  Many  good  and  great  men,"  said  an  able  divine, 
venerable  for  his  age,  his  learning,  and  his  piety, 
"  entertain  serious  apprehensions  of  approaching 
evils,  and  cannot  divest  themselves  of  anxious  fears, 
that  the  gloom  will  actually  thicken  at  the  close,  that 
the  number  of  believers  will  be  greatly  diminished, 
errors  overwhelm  the  church,  and  true  religion  be 
reduced  to  an  extreme  point  of  depression-^But  if 


thp:  dkath  of  the  witnesses.  333 

such  appreliensions  are  tlio  rci^ult  of  ignorance  or 
iiiiwarrantahle  liinidily,  if  they  arc  not  supported 
by  the  word  of  God,  especially  if  they  contradict 
the  word,  and  oppose  the  evident  procedure  of  di- 
vine Providence,  let  thein  be  dismissed."*  In  these 
sentiments  we  acquiesce,  and  we  dismiss  undue  ap- 
prchcnsions,  although  contrary  to  the  views  of  Presi- 
dent Livingston,  we  maintain  the  death  of  tiie  wit- 
nesses to  be  still  a  future  event.  We  do  not  admit, 
however,  the  charge  even  of  timiditi/  to  apply  in 
this  case.  AYiien  the  hour  of  trial  came,  there  was 
as  much  magnanimity  displayed  by  Jeremiah,  who 
predicted  the  foil  of  Jerusalem,  as  there  was  found 
in  those  who  disbelieved  that  prediction.  1  have 
believed^  therefore  have  I  spoken. 

The  witnesses  of  this  chapter,  we  have  ah'cady 
described.  They  are  immediately  opposed  to  the 
complex  system  of  tyranny  and  superstition,  and 
display  a  testimony  against  antichristian  principles 
in  church  and  state.  They  are,  of  course,  esteemed 
had  std)jects  to  the  beast  and  his  ten  horns ;  and  are 
therefore  said  to  torment  them  that  dwelt  on  the  earth. 
The  present  truth,  whatever  may  be  most  disputed, 
they  more  immediately  maintain.  And  wheresoever 
they  are,  they  testify  against  the  prevalent  corrup- 
tions. That  point  upon  which  antichrist  attacks 
Christianity,  they  for  the  time  defend.  They  are 
the  friends  of  both  civil  and  religious  liberty;  but  it 
is  Christian  liberty,  and  not  irreligion,  which  they 
defend,  and  which  they  recommend  to  society,  civil 
and  ecclesiastical.  They  are  not  timid  or  partial, 
but  boldly  declare  the  truth ;  and  because  they  are 
'  Dr.  Livingston's  Miasiooary  Sermon,  New-York,  1804. 


334  THE    LITTLE    BOOK. 

unyielding,  they  are  hated.  They  are  always  per- 
secuted during  the  1260  years,  in  which  they  pro- 
phesy in  sackcloth:  and  with  ^progressive  testimony 
against  the  errors  of  the  man  of  sin,  they  go  on  to 
complete  it;  and  it  is  about  the  time  in  wliich  they 
iinish  their  testimony  they  are  killed. 

Tlieir  death  is  caused  by  the  beast  of  the  pit. 
The  heathenish  church  excites  the  immoral  power 
of  the  state  to  this  deed ;  but  it  is  the  revived  empire 
of  the  jvest  which  kills  the  witnesses,  either  directly 
by  its  own  power,  or  by  employing  one  or  more  of 
its  horns  or  kingdoms  to  do  this.  "  Let  the  reader," 
said  Mr.  Faber,  "  only  compare  together  the  follow- 
ing texts,  and  he  will  be  sufficiently  convinced  of 
the  truth  of  my  assertion.  Rev.  xi.  7.  The  beast 
that  ascendeth  out  of  the  bottomless  pit,  shall  make  war 
against  them.  Rev.  xiii.  1.  And  I  stood  upon  the 
sand  of  the  sea,  and  saw  a  beast  rise  up  out  of  the  sea, 
having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns. 

Rev.  xvii.  7,  8.  I  Avill  tell  thee  the  mystery  of 
the  woman,  and  of  the  beast  that  carrieth  her,  which 
bath  the  seven  heads  and  ten  horns.  The  beast  that 
thou  sawest  was,  and  is  not,  and  shall  ascend  out  of 
the  bottomless  pit.  It  is  a  palpable  truth,  that  the 
beast  of  the  sea,  and  the  beast  of  the  bottomless 
pit,  arc  the  self-same  ten-horned  and  seven-headed 
beast." 

The  time  in  which  they  lie  dead  is  three  days  and 
a  half.  A  day  for  a  year.  The  time  is  specific.  It 
is  a  forced  construction,  which,  to  answer  a  purpose 
otherwise  irreconcileable  with  this  prophecy,  would 
render  the  three  days  and  a  half  equal  to  the  1260 
days  of  their  prophecy.     In  that  case  the  witnesses 


I'HE    DEATH    OF    THE    WITNESSED.  33j 

never  lived.  If  they  lay  dead  during  the  whole  time 
of  their  prophecy,  when  was  it  that  they  tormented 
the  nations  /  for  in  their  death  the  nations  rejoiced. 
With  such  a  latitude  of  interpretation,  dates  may 
signify  any  thing.  Tlie  plain  truth  is,  those  wit- 
nesses bore  tiieir  testimony  1260  years,  under  cir- 
cumstances of  great  affliction.  At  the  close  of  this 
period,  they  were  silenced  by  the  last  struggles  of 
the  beast  to  preserve  his  power.  He  triumphed, 
and  they  were  silent  for  three  and  a  half  years. 
They  revived  at  the  end  of  that  period ;  the  beast 
disappeared;  and  the  time  of  Daniel  came  when  the 
saints  possessed  the  kingdom.  The  little  book  ter- 
minates ;  and  the  narrative  of  the  sealed  book  com- 
mences, where  it  was  interrupted,  with  an  account  of 
the  sounding  of  the  seventh  trumpet.  Such  is  cer- 
tainly the  idea  that  a  plain  unprejudiced  reader 
of  intelligence  would  annex  to  this  passage.  No- 
thing but  ilie  design  of  making  it  consistent  with 
some  system,  adopted  from  prejudice,  would  torture 
the  three  days  and  a  half  to  an  equality  with  I2G0 
days,  and  so  rob  us  of  all  our  living  witnesses,  keep- 
ing them  dead  during  the  whole  time.  Death  and 
life,  in  relation  to  the  same  thing,  cannot  be  pre- 
dicated of  them  at  the  same  time.  It  was  their  life, 
as  witnesses  to  bear  testimony  against  anticlnist;  it 
is,  as  witnesses,  they  are  put  to  death,  when  such  tes- 
timony is,  violently  and  effectually  silenced.  There 
ivill  he  Christians,  there  will  be  churches,  as  there  al- 
ways have  been.  But  for  three  years  and  a  half, 
there  will  not  he  found,  witliin  the  bounds  of  the 
Latin  Roman  empire,  any  witnesses  to  bear  a  public 


336  THE    LITTLE    BOOK. 

testimony  against  the  man  of  sin,  at  the  close  of  his 
reign.  I  shall,  however,  lay  before  you  in  this 
place,  a  summary  of  the  argument  by  which  we  prove 
tlie  death  of  the  witnesses  to  be  yet  a  future  event. 

1.  The  death  of  the  witnesses  is  yet  to  come,  be- 
cause they  are  now  neither  dead,  nor  arisen  from  the 
dead. 

They  still  prophesy  in  sackcloth.  It  is  not  ima- 
gined by  any  expositor  that  we  are  now  under  the 
three  and  a  half  years;  and  it  is  manifest  we  are  not, 
from  the  fact  that  no  joy  is  felt  by  the  antichristian 
nations,  no  mirth,  no  sending  of  gifts,  according  to 
verse  10th,  for  such  an  event.  There  is  too  much 
activity  still  among  Christians  in  opposing  the  grand 
enemy,  to  admit  the  idea  that  the  witnesses  are  now 
lying  unburied  in  the  streets.  And  if  their  charac- 
ter has  been  properly  defined  in  this  lecture,  it  is 
equally  manifest  that  their  resurrection  is  not  ar- 
rived. Immediately  upon  that  event,  extraordinary 
terror  falls  upon  their  enemies :  and  they  are  them- 
selves, by  the  voice  of  God,  called  up  to  heaven, 
no  longer  to  wear  sackcloth;  for  that  is  not  the  place 
of  mourning.  The  throne  is,  then,  occupied  by  the 
saints ;  and  the  kingdoms  of  this  world,  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ.  The  great 
predicted  earthquake  arrives — the  antichristian  sys- 
tem shakes  to  its  centre ;  the  impenitent  supporters 
of  it  perish  in  despair ;  and  the  remnant  submit  to 
true  religion,  and  give  glory  to  God.  Nothing  like 
this  has  as  yet  accompanied  or  flowed  from  the 
French  revolution— the  only  event,  to  which  the 


THE    DEATH    OF    THE    WITNESSES.  33* 

earthquake,  verse  13th,  lias  at  all  been  applied  by 
modern  expositors.  The  friends  of  religion,  and  the 
most  enthusiastic  admirers  of  civil  liberty,  find  now 
that  their  early  impressions  were  incorrect,  when 
they  hailed  as  the  resurrection  of  the  witnesses  the 
convocation  of  the  French  national  assembly. 

Like  other  events,  the  French  revolution  will  be 
overruled  by  the  King  of  nations  for  his  own  glory ; 
but  it  was  unreasonable  ever  to  have  expected  from 
such  men,  as  made  the  principal  figure  in  that  work 
of  judgment  and  of  blood,  that  they  should  person- 
ate the  arisen  witnesses  of  the  living  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  or  even  that  civil  liberty  itself  should  be  es- 
tablished and  protected  by  them. 

2.  We  consider  the  event  as  future,  because  these 
witnesses  have  not  as  yet  employed,  in  prophesy- 
ing, the  whole  time  unto  which  they  have  been  called ; 
and  it  is  not  until  then  that  they  are  slain. 

The  timey  definitely  marked  out  in  prophecy  for 
this  work,  is  1260  years;  and  these  years  are  not 
expired.  The  evils  against  which  they  testify  still 
exist — corrupt  constitutions  of  church  and  state — 
the  heathenish  church,  and  the  seven-headed  ten-horned 
heast.  However  happy  the  deliverance  procured 
for  the  churches  by  the  protestant  reformation,  there 
is  not  among  these  nations  of  the  western  empire  a 
single  one  to-day  without  an  antichristian  constitu- 
tion.* So  far,  therefore,  from  being  themselves,  in 
their  political  character,  ranked  among  the  witnesses 
against  the  corruptions  of  church  and  state,  are  these 

*  This  principle  will  be  illustrated  in  Lecture  XII. 
2  T 


338  THE    LITTLE    BOOK. 

nations,  that  they  require  from  the  faithful  a  testi- 
mony against  the  immoralities  which  they  have  in- 
corporated with  their  several  establishments.  In 
each  of  these  nations  mere  politicians  have  modified 
even  the  protestant  churches  into  such  a  form,  as 
that,  while  they  are  severed  from  other  churches  con- 
trary to  the  tmiti/  of  the  Spirit,  they  are  made  a  part 
of  the  civil  government  of  the  nation,  and  are  thus 
degraded  to  the  earth. 

These  corrupt  establishments  place  the  churches 
in  league  with  the  beast  with  the  ten  horns;  and 
instead  of  being  themselves  witnesses  against  cor- 
ruption, there  are,  both  within  and  without  their  com- 
munion, men  Avho,  in  sackcloth  prophesy  against 
them,  and  bear  a  testimony  against  the  evil.  It  is 
when  they  shall  have  finished,  at  the  end  of  1260 
years,  their  testimony,  they  shall  be  killed.  Whether 
we  render  crovt  liKitrufi,  in  verse  7,  when  they  shall  he 
finishing,  or,  when  they  shall  have  finished,  is  a  mat- 
ter of  no  consequence.  The  idea  in  either  case, 
carries  us  where  the  whole  history  of  the  witnesses 
leads  us,  to  the  termination  of  the  period. 

3.  From  the  nature  of  the  work  of  bearing  testi- 
mony against  antichristian  misrule,  in  church  and 
commonwealth,  it  is  evident  that  it  is  still  incom- 
plete; and  hence  also  it  appears,  that  they  who  carry 
on  the  work  are  not  yet  dead. 

Christ,  our  pattern  and  example,  the  faithful  and 
true  witness,  was  not  put  to  death  until  he  finished 
the  work  given  him  to  do.  And  by  the  reference 
to  his  crucifixion,  verse  8,  it  is  to  be  expected  that 


THE    DEATH    OF    THE   WlTiVESSES.  339 

his  witnesses  shall  not  be  slain  until,  as  he  did,  they 
finish,  in  their  last  sufferings,  the  whole  work  they 
have  to  perform.  This  is  the  true  import  of  the 
expression  orav  li^itraa-i.  In  suffering  death,  our  Sa- 
viour finished  his  work.  When  finishing  their  work, 
the  witnesses  are  slain.  By  the  blood  of  martyr- 
dom, they  seal  the  last  article  in  their  testimony ; 
and  thus  is  the  testimony  completed. 

Of  these  articles,  it  appears  from  the  history  of  the 
persecutions  which  preceded  this  age,  there  remains 
one,  an  important  one,  and  only  one,  to  be  a  ground 
of  suffering.  In  testifying  for  it,  there  is  high  pro- 
bability, the  witnesses  must  be  slain. 

The  true  cause  of  all  persecution,  is  in  all  ages 
the  same — disobedience  to  the  powers  that  be. 
If  Christians  w  ould  act,  as  such  powers  desire,  in  all 
cases,  there  would  be  no  controversy,  no  martyrdom. 
If  in  every  point  they  obey,  but  in  one,  for  that  one 
they  must  suffer.     Such  is  persecution. 

Under  the  Old  Testament,  the  saints  suffered  for 
worshipping  the  true  God,  and  rejecting  idols.  At 
the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  they  suffer- 
ed from  Jews  and  Gentiles,  for  receiving  Christ  as 
Messiah,  and  for  defending  the  doctrine  of  faith  in 
his  name.  Under  antichrist  they  suffered,  at  and 
before  the  reformation,  for  defending  the  doctrines 
of  grace,  and  the  order  of  the  sanctuary  against  the 
heathen  church  in  league  with  the  beast.  Antichrist 
tolerated  what  the  Jews  and  the  pagans  condemned. 
He  pejmitted men  to  worship  God,  and  acknowledge 
Messialii  but  not  to  oppose  the  papal  superstition. 
After  the  reformation,  the  protestanf  powers,  as  well 


340  THE    LITTLE   BOOK. 

as  the  popish  kingdoms,  claimed  the  right  of  pre- 
scribing a  religion  for  their  subjects.  The  saints 
(hen  suffered,  not  merely  for  their  abstract  articles 
of  belief,  or  for  their  opinions  of  the  pope ;  but  for 
not  submitting  to  the  religious  worship  supported 
by  the  government  of  the  country.  This  was  the 
cause  of  the  persecutions  in  France  under  Lewis 
XIV.  and  in  Britain  under  the  house  of  Stuart. 
Every  where,  throughout  the  Roman  empire,  the 
witnesses  have  testified  that  Christ  is  the  only  Sa- 
viour, and  they  died  to  seal  that  testimony.  The 
Hugonots,  the  Puritans,  and  the  Covenanters,  have 
suffered  death,  in  bearing  testimony  to  the  exclusive 
headship  of  Jesus  Christ  over  his  own  church,  and  in 
disclaiming  all  human  lordship  over  the  conscience: 
but  it  does  not  appear  that  witnesses  have  been  put 
to  death  for  testifying  against  the  irreligion  of  civil 
polity,  any  where  as  yet,  in  the  antichrisfian  world. 
This  article  still  remains  to  be  completed.  As  these 
sons  of  sorrow,  clad  in  mourning  apparel,  were  ori- 
ginally cited  to  give  evidence  for  the  cause  of  truth 
and  order  in  tlie  world,  against  the  pretensions  of  the 
heathen  church  and  beast  of  the  pit,  it  is  necessary 
that  they  be  as  explicit,  in  opposing  the  beastliness 
of  the  one,  as  they  have  been  in  opposing  the 
heathenism  of  the  other. 

Christ's  HEADSHIP  OVER  the  nations  is  the  pre- 
sent testimony. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  witnesses  will  escape 
better  in  maintaining  this  doctrine  than  in  other  cases. 
Modern  principles  of  government,  it  is  true,  disclaim 
persecution  for  articles  of  faith,  or  modes  of  ecclesi 


THE    DEATH    OF    THE   WITNESSES.  3H 

astical  government:  but  the  ten-homed  beast  will  not 
submit  to  be  fold,  that  he  must  kiss  the  Son:  and  that 
true  leligioii  is  not  merely  to  be  tolerated,  but  is  in 
foot  to  influence  civil  polity,  and  to  overthrow. all  in- 
consistent establishments.  When  this  one  remaining 
article  of  the  testimony  against  the  antichristian  sys- 
tem is  so  generally  espoused,  as  that  the  number  and 
power  of  the  witnesses  is  sufficient  to  excite  notice 
and  alarm,  then  will  the  beast  slay  them,  and  in 
dying,  will  they  have  completed  their  testimony. 
This  period  is  not  yet  arrived;  but  is  fast  ap- 
proaching. 

1.  That  the  death  of  the  witnesses  has  not,  as  yet, 
come  to  pass,  appears  from  the  fact  that  it  is  caused 
by  the  last  great  struggle  of  the  beast  against  the 
saints.  This  is  obvious,  because  this  war  is  pecidiar- 
ly  mentioned  in  the  prophecy;  and  because  at  the  re- 
surrection of  the  witnesses,  the  power  of  the  enemy 
comes  to  an  end. 

No  event  corresponding  to  this  has  hitherto  oc- 
curred in  Christendom;  nor  can  such  an  event  occur 
until  knowledge  is  so  far  increased,  and  influential 
men  are  so  well  instructed,  both  in  the  character  of 
the  mystery  of  iniquity,  and  in  that  of  the  true 
moral  order  which  Christianity  recommends  for  the 
government  of  society,  as  to  be  in  due  measure  pre- 
pared both  to  testify  against  the  one,  and  to  reduce 
the  other  to  practice.  When  the  numbers,  the 
leaTning,  and  the  talents,  enlisted  on  the  side  of  the 
Bible  religion,  and  Bible  politics,  are  become  so 
formidable  as  to  alarm  the  beast,  then  will  he  make 


342  THE    LITTLE    BOOK. 

war  upon  them;  and  for  three  years  and  a  half, 
that  war  will  be  successful.  Dreadful  will  be  the 
effect ;  but  God  will  speedily  interfere.  The  wit- 
nesses shall  stand  upon  their  feet  before  him.  He 
will  call  them  into  supreme  power,  and  the  reign  of 
antichrist  is  then  no  more.  The  nations  are  not  as 
yet  ripe  for  this  harvest:  but  knowledge  is  certainly 
in  rapid  progression.  Attention  to  the  Bible  is  in- 
creasing every  day ;  and  mankind  have  many  induce- 
ments, in  the  present  convulsed  state  of  the  moral 
world,  to  fly  for  refuge  to  that  hook  wliich  contains 
the  only  correct  view  of  the  principles  which  will 
bless  the  earth  with  peace. 

Resurrection  of  the  Witnesses. 

We  have  it  not  in  our  power  to  describe  very  ac- 
curately an  event  which  is  still  future ;  but  we  are 
assured  that  when  those  faithful  martyrs  shall  have 
been  silent  for  the  space  of  three  prophetical  days 
and  a  half,  that  is,  three  natural  years  and  a  half  the 
spirit  of  life  from  God  shall  enter  into  them.  By  the 
grace  of  God  they  shall  arise,  in  those  who  succeed 
to  their  principles,  and  shall  assume  a  respectability 
and  an  influence,  which  puts  down  all  subsequent  op- 
position. 

The  experiment  of  antichristian  policy  will  have 
been,  in  the  estimation  of  civilized  Europe,  carried 
to  a  sufficient  length;  and  it  will  be  prepared  to 
yield  its  government  to  the  influence  of  true  religiou. 

All  irreligious  polity  will  be  discarded  as  insuffi- 
cient to  bless  the  earth  with  peace  and  happiness. 


THE    RESURRECTION   OF    THE   WITNESSES.         343 

and  (he  saints  alone  exalted  to  the  political  heaven. 
The  voice  of  God  will  cause  this  change.  Divine 
grace  will  influence  men  to  exalt  to  power  over 
thenn  by  their  suffrages  none  but  those  who  will  rule 
in  the  fear  of  God.  Thei/  ascended  up  to  heaven  in  a 
cloud,  and  their  enemies  beheld  them. 

Cotemporaneously,  «vc>c€iv>j7»j  i^»,  with  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  witnesses  is  the  final  carthquakcy  and 
the  fall  of  the  tenth  part  of  the  city.  Time  will  be 
the  most  accurate  expositor  of  this  prediction.  Some 
kingdom,  probably  that  very  one  in  which  the  wit- 
nesses were  slain,  and  in  which  most  has  already 
been  done  for  the  dissemination  of  sound  doctrine ; 
some  one  of  the  ten  kingdoms  which  have  acted  as 
the  horns  of  the  beast,  will  be  distinguished  in  the 
general  earthquake,  by  the  first  actual  and  complete 
secession  from  irreligious  policy,  and  be  the  first  to 
exemplify,  upon  a  permanent  footing,  since  the  dis- 
memberment of  the  Jewish  monarchy  by  the  first 
great  beast,  the  true  scriptural  order  of  civil  go- 
vernment. 

This  great  and  salutary  change  cannot  be  effected 
without  the  entire  prostration  of  former  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  dignitaries.  In  the  earthquake  were 
slain  of  men  seven  thousand. 

In  the  original  it  is  cvc/xoclx  uvB-^uttuv,  names  of  men, 
that  thus  fall.     The  expression  signifies,  of  course," 
the  prostration  of  titleSy  rather  than  the  destruction 
of  lives.*     The  inhabitants  of  other  countries,  saw 


*  We  have  alrraily  intimated,  page  211,  that  this  period  syn- 
chronizes with  that  of  the  seventh  trumpet,  and  v.ith  the  time  of  thr 
mntagc^  chap.  xiv. 


344  CONCLUSION. 

and  imitated  this  example.     The  remnant  were  af- 
frightedi  and  gave  glory  to  the  God  of  heaven. 

Here  the  little  hook  closes.  It  is  a  summary  his- 
tory of  the  remarkable  1260  years,  with  special  re- 
ference to  the  Avitnesses.  It  describes  the  state  of 
the  church  become  heathen  in  league  with  immo- 
ral power,  and  the  state  of  the  true  church  measured 
by  the  word  of  God,  and  worshipping  at  the  '^^w 
Testament  altar ;  and  it  emphatically  exhibits  the 
few  faithful  men  among  the  scattered  churches  who 
maintained  correct  principles  relative  to  social  reli- 
gion, in  opposition  to  the  corrupt  constitutions  of 
church  and  state  in  the  antichristian  empire,  until 
their  cause  became  triumphant,  and  the  reign  of  the 
man  of  sin  had  terminated. 

CONCLUSION. 

I  must  now  conclude  this  lecture,  already  pro- 
longed to  an  extraordinary  length.  I  have  it  in  my 
power,  from  the  sacred  text,  to  assure  my  hearers, 
that  the  Christians  and  the  Avitnesses  of  this  land  shall 
not  suffer  in  the  catastrophe  which  we  have  consi- 
dered. That  event  takes  place  within  the  bounds 
of  the  western  empire.  We  shall  have,  it  is  true, 
our  trials,  and  our  sorrows.  Our  sympathy  will  be 
'excited  by  the  sufferings  of  others;  but  as  we  never 
formed  a  street  of  mystical  Babylon,  the  great  em- 
pire, in  which  our  Lord  was  crucified,  and  which  is 
spiritually  called  Sodom  and  Egypt,  we  cannot  by 
the  death  of  our  own  citizens,  exemplify  the  death 
of  the  witnesses.     No :   here  thev   have  hitherto 


CONCLUSION.  345 

found  protection.  Let  this  be  the  asylum  of  the 
oppressed.  Our  nation  was  peopled,  in  a  great 
measure,  by  the  persecuted  pilgrims,  and  it  has 
grown  by  accessions  of  a  similar  character.  What- 
ever may  be  its  crimes,  and  they  are  very  great,  and 
will  assuredly  be  punished  by  a  righteous  God; 
whatever  are  its  crimes,  they  are  small,  compared 
with  those  of  other  civilized  nations. 

America  has  not  been  guilty  of  shedding  the 
blood  of  tlie  martyrs.  Slie  has  not  persecuted  the 
wandering  and  benighted  sons  of  Abraham,  still  be- 
loved for  the  Fathers'  sake,  and  again  to  be  brought 
back  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  She  has  not, 
either  by  sea  or  by  land,  encouraged  oppression,  or 
despoiled  of  his  goods  him  that  was  at  peace  with 
us.  This  hitherto  happy  land,  has  been  a  place  of 
refuge  from  the  storm  which  desolates  the  old  world. 
Long  may  it  retain  this  character !  Let  its  door  of 
hospitality  be  still  open  for  the  reception  of  the 
stranger,  who  sighs  for  a  participation  in  the  bless- 
ings of  liberty  enjoyed  by  the  sons  of  Columbia! 
And  let  the  republican  banner  cover  as  a  mantle, 
and  continue  to  protect  its  adopted  citizens,  against 
the  unholy  claims,  and  unblessed  pretensions  of  per- 
petual allegiance  to  despotic  power ! 

But  if  we  are  safe  from  the  last  war  of  the  beast 
against  the  witnesses,  where  shall  the  blow  fall  ?  On 
what  street,  in  what  kingdom  of  the  ancient  empire, 
shall  the  witnesses  of  Jesus  Christ  lie  dead,  and  un* 
buried,  the  sport  of  the  sons  of  darkness  ?  In  what 
land  are  to  be  found  the  victims,  the  last  victims,  to 
be  offered  upon  the  altar  of  the  man  of  sin  ^ 
2  U 


346  CONCLUSION. 

You  anticipate  my  reply.  There  is  one  nation 
to  which  the  eye  is  irresistibly  turned.  It  is  not  a 
secret  to  the  Christian  world,  in  what  country  dwell 
the  witnesses  of  our  Redeemer,  at  the  present  time, 
in  the  greatest  number,  with  the  greatest  zeal,  intel- 
ligence, activity,  and  usefulness.  There  too,  they  are 
likely  to  continue  in  the  greatest  notoriety  during 
the  few  years  which  remain  of  the  time  necessary 
for  them  to  complete  their  testimony.  It  is  painful, 
brethren,  to  anticipate  this  event.  It  embitters  the 
heart.  Heavy  are  these  tidings  from  the  little  book: 
but  we  must  receive  it  out  of  the  angel's  hand.  Shall 
our  fathers,  our  friends,  our  brethren  in  the  faith  of 
God's  elect,  bound  with  us  in  the  most  sacred  ties,  for 
the  promotion  of  the  Lord's  cause,  be  opposed,  and 
persecuted,  and  put  to  death  in  the  British  dominions? 

It  is  only  a  conjecture.  We  do  not,  we  dare  not 
predict.  The  place  is  not  absolutely  pointed  out 
in  the  prophecy.  We  cannot  be  certain  until  the 
event  declares  what  street  of  the  great  city,  the  old 
Roman  empire,  is  to  be  the  place  of  slaughter. 
The  British  empire  is  within  the  bounds  of  the  sym- 
bolical earth.  She  is,  at  present,  the  principal  sup- 
port of  the  old  antichristian  systems  of  Europe. 
She  bears  up  the  empire  of  the  west,  against  the 
third  and  the  last  wo,  now  pouring  out  its  plagues 
by  the  agency  of  revolutionary  France.  Should 
that  wo  be  permitted  in  the  providence  of  God  to 
break  over  the  cliffs  of  Albion,  and  its  foaming  bil- 
lows roll  along  to  the  high  mountains  of  Caledonia, 
where  the  old  Roman  legions  were  stopped  in  the 
days  of  other  times,  the  war  of  the  beast  agains^ 


DOWULUsiuiv.  347 

Ihe  witnesses  must  become  matter  of  liistory.  The 
best  of  the  saints,  and  the  most  magnanimous,  intelli- 
gent, and  faithful  of  that  land,  as  they  would  not 
be  silent,  could  not  be  safe. 

Men  of  no  religion — men  inclined  to  a  splendid 
form  without  life  or  reality — the  avowed  enemies 
of  evangelical  doctrine — the  high  advocates  of  arbi- 
trary power  and  prelatical  pride — those  who  ex- 
communicate from  the  pale  of  the  church  of  God, 
all  but  themselves  and  the  hurch  of  Rome,  w^ould 
easily  embrace  the  views  of  the  antichristian  con- 
queror.* But  thousands  among  the  several  reli- 
gious denominations  of  the  British  isles  would  seal 
their  testimony  with  their  blood. 

Such  an  event — sufferings  extreme  from  the  hand 
of  France — sufferings  approaching  to  desolation, 
have  been  expected  for  ages  by  the  pious  people  in 
that  country.  What  is  to  prevent  such  a  catastro- 
phe ?  Britain,  first  in  crime,  because  sinning  against 
the  clearest  light,  and  the  greatest  mercies,  deserves 
the  scourge.  Britain,  possessing  the  most  active, 
useful,  and  important  part  of  the  church  of  God, 
will  be  preserved  from  wrath  until  the  work  assigned 
to  her  pious  sons  shall  have  been  accomplished. 
Let  that  work  be  done,  and  then  though  Noah,  and 
Daniel,  and  Job,  were  there,  they  cannot  prevent  the 
evil  to  come. 

'  High  churchmen,  contending  for  the  divine  right  of  prelacy, 
consign  to  uncovcnanted  mercy  all  who  do  not  submit  to  their  bi- 
shops. They  claim  a  nearer  connexion  with  the  pa[Hst3,  than  they 
do  with  other  protestants. 


348  cox\njUbro]>i. 

Let  us  iremble  and  adore.  Let  us  hail  the  pros- 
pect of  a  speedy  resurrection  to  the  successors  of 
the  martyrs.  For  in  the  fall  of  this  tenth  part  of  the 
idolatrous  city,  is  involved  the  ruin  of  those  who 
prevent  the  re-establishment  of  the  reformation. 
And  soon  thereafter  shall  the  friends  of  righteous- 
ness in  the  church  and  in  the  commonwealth  be  ex- 
alted to  a  station  which  shall  be  powerful  and  per- 
manent.  The  country  in  which  they  suffered  during 
the  last  struggle,  may  be  the  first  to  redeem  its  cha- 
racter, and  to  set  the  example  to  others  of  a  king- 
dom which  is,  in  fact,  and  by  profession,  one  of  the 
kingdoms  of  our  God  and  his  Christ.    Amen. 


THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  DRAGON 


LECTURE  Xr. 


Rev.  xii.  1,  3.... And  there  appeared  a  great  wonder 
in  heaven ;  a  noman  clothed  with  the  sun^  and  the 
moon  wider  her  feet,  and  upon  her  head  a  crown 
of  twelve  stars.  And  there  appeared  another  won- 
der in  heaven  ;  and^  behold,  a  great  red  dragon,  ha- 
ving seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  seven  crowns 
upon  his  heads. 

ITeLIGIGN,  by  divine  appointment,  respects  man 
in  every  relation  of  life,  and  renders  all  his  tempo- 
ral concerns  subservient  to  his  future  and  eternal 
h^tate.  It  is  therefore  impossible  to  survey  atten- 
tively the  great  social  interests  of  the  church  of  God, 
without,  at  the  same  time,  taking  a  view  of  the  con- 
dition of  civil  society  within  the  bounds  occupied 
by  Christian  communities. 

This  obvious  principle  is  taken  for  granted  in  the 
whole  system  of  sacred  predictions ;  and  upon  it  the 
symbolical   language  of  prophecy  uniformly  pro- 


350  THE   WOMAN   AND   THE    DRAGON. 

ceeds.  This  language,  highly  figurative  as  it,  is, 
must  nevertheless  be  considered  as  remarkable  for 
its  precision. 

The  same  symbol,  it  is  true,  is  capable  of  a  two= 
fold  application;  because  there  are,  in  fact,  two 
great  systems  of  social  order  in  the  world,  essential- 
ly distinct  from  one  another,  but  each  of  them  inse- 
parably connected  with  the  interests  of  religion,  and 
accordingly  with  the  history  of  Christianity,  which 
are  alike  subjects  of  scripture  prophecy — political 
and  ecclesiastical  society.  The  symbol,  of  course, 
according  to  the  connexion  in  which  it  stands,  may 
be  applied  to  the  concerns  of  the  church,  or  to 
those  of  the  state. 

The  prospective  history  of  the  Apocalypse  re- 
lates to  secular  things,  and  to  ecclesiastical  things ; 
and  whichever  of  these  be  the  subject  of  the  passage 
under  consideration,  it  forms  a  system,  according 
to  which  the  symbolical  language  must  be  inter- 
preted. This  effectually  prevents  confusion  and 
indistinctness  in  the  exposition  of  the  Apocalypse. 
Due  attention  to  this  principle  might  have  prevent- 
ed the  torturing  of  passages  in  some  instances  by 
Commentators,  in  order  to  employ  the  same  symbol 
always  to  the  very  same  object,  and  the  indefinite- 
iiess  of  application,  tolerated  by  some  other  able 
expositors,  for  want  of  any  precise  rules  of  inter- 
pretation. 

The  time,  the  place,  and  the  character  of  the  war 
between  the  woman  and  the  dragon,  as  described  in 
this  chapter,  would  not  have  been  matter  of  contro- 
versy, had  the  nature  of  the  symbolical  language 


THE    PERIOD   OF  THE   WAR.  351 

been  understood,  and  the  true  principles  of  exposi- 
tion been  kept  throughout  in  view. 

The  various  modes  of  interpreting  the  prophecy 
of  this  chapter,  which  are  worthy  of  notice,  may 
all  be  reduced  to  tluec. 

1.  The  system  which  applies  the  whole  contents 
to  the  contest  between  Christianity  and  heathen 
Rome,  terminating  in  the  revolution  effected  by 
Constantine  the  Great. 

2.  The  system  which  applies  the  first  part  of  the 
chapter,  from  the  1st  to  the  6th  verse,  to  the  times 
of  Pagan  Rome ;  and  the  subsequent  parts  to  the 
antichristian  empire. 

3.  That  system  which  applies  the  whole  chapter 
to  the  times  of  the  grand  apostacy. 

Each  of  these  systems  is  supported  by  several 
eminent  men;  and  were  we  to  be  governed  by 
human  authority,  it  would  be  difficult  to  determine 
which  hypothesis  it  would  be  our  duty  to  adopt. 

Independently,  however,  from  the  argument  fur- 
nished by  inspection  of  the  text  itself,  it  appears  to 
me  necessary,  upon  other  considerations,  to  apply 
the  war  of  the  dragon  to  the  period  of  the  antichris- 
tian apostacy. 

1.  This  chapter,  as  it  does  not  belong  to  the  lit- 
tle BOOK,  must  belong  to  the  sealed  book;  and 
of  course  to  that  part  of  it  which  was  under  the  sc- 
rcnth  seal.     Had  it  indeed  been  a  part  of  the  little 


352  THE   WOMAN  'iVND   THE    DRAGON, 

book,  it  could  by  no  means  be  applied  to  events 
preceding  the  1260  years,  of  which  alone  that  book 
treats:  but  being  the  continuation  of  the  seventh 
sealy  although  it  may  run  parallel  with  the  trumpets 
under  that  seal,  it  cannot  be  supposed  to  return  to 
that  time  which  preceded  the  opening  of  the  seal 
itself. 

2.  This  chapter  has  no  connexion  with  the  trum- 
pets, any  more  than  one  history  has  with  another 
distinct  history,  which  may  happen  to  treat  of  some 
events  which  came  to  pass  at  the  same  period  of 
time.  It  cannot  therefore  be  referred  to  any  one 
trumpet,  any  more  than  Hume*s  History  of  Eng- 
land can  be  said  to  belong  to  a  particular  chapter  of 
Gibbon^s  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
It  may,  nevertheless,  be  parallel  to  one  or  more  of 
the  trumpets.  If  indeed  it  were  under  the  seventh 
trumpet,  it  must  have  respect  to  events  subsequent 
to  the  millennium,  for  the  seventh  trumpet,  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  had  introduced  that  period ;  but 
this  chapter  evidently  precedes  the  millennium; 
and  it  must  of  course  respect  events  under  the  se- 
venth seal,  cotemporary  with  some  of  the  events  of 
the  trumpets ;  but  not  included  under  any  one  of 
them.  The  inference  is  irresistible.  This  chapter 
is  an  introduction  to  the  vials. 

As  the  little  hook  was  introductory  to  the  seventh 
trumpet,  designed  to  explain  the  object  of  the  third 
wo;  so  are  the  12th,  13th,  and  14th  chapters,  de- 
scriptive of  the  state  of  the  moral  world,  during  the 
1260  years,  and  designed  to  explain  the  system  of 


THESE   PARTIES    DESCRIBED.  353 

iniquity  upon  which  the  golden  vials  pour  out  their 
seven  last  plagues. 

The  12th  chapter  synchronizes  with  the  little 
book,  and  with  each  of  the  two  succeeding  chapters. 
It  does  not  carry  on  the  history  of  events  in  chro- 
nological order  from  the  time  to  which  the  trumpets 
extend ;  but  returns  back,  not  however  to  the  time 
of  John  the  Divine,  but  to  the  seventh  seal,  and  pre- 
pares the  way  for  the  period  of  the  vials.  This 
consideration  determines  the  application  of  its  con- 
tents to  the  antichristian  reign :  and  the  text  itself 
furnishes  other  and  more  ample  reasons  for  such  an 
interpretation. 

I  proceed  in  this  lecture,  to  exhibit  the  war  of 
the  dragon  in  the  Roman  empire,  with  the  woman, 
the  symbol  of  the  true  church.  It  is  a  contest  be- 
tween a  devilish  civil  polity  throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  the  earthy  and  the  cause  of  true  religion 
in  the  hands  of  the  saints. 

You  will  permit  me,  in  the  first  place,  to  intro- 
duce to  your  acquaintance,  the  principal  charac- 
ters engaged  in  this  war ;  and  in  the  second  place, 
to  give  you  the  history  of  the  contest. 

I.  An  exhibition  of  the  principal  characters  engaged 
in  this  war. 

These  are,  upon  the  one  side,  the  womany  support- 
ed by  Michael  and  his  angelsy  and  upon  the  other,  the 
dragon  with  his  angels. 

Both  the  parties  appeared  to  the  apostle  John  in 
heaven,  and  there  did  the  contest,  now  under  consi- 
2W 


354  THE   WOMAN   A^D   THE   DRAGON. 

deration,  commence.    Verses  1,  3,  7.     Let  us  ascer- 
tain the  character  of  the  combatants. 

J.  The  AVoman, 

She  is  described  verses  1,  2.  And  there  appeared  a 
great  wonder  in  heaven;  a  woman  clothed  with  the  sun, 
and  the  moon  under  her  feet^  and  upon  her  head  a 
crown  of  twelve  stars:  and  she,  being  with  child,  cried, 
Iravailing  in  birth,  and  pained  to  be  delivered. 

She  appeared  as  a  great  wonder — ^-^i^nov  fA,iyx. 
In  the  first  verse  of  the  book  of  Revelation,  we  are 
informed  that  God  signijied,  i(r>;^civi,  unto  his  servant 
John,  the  things  which  must  come  to  pass.  In  that 
place,  the  verb  <ryiy,otiva)  is  not  to  be  understood  as  in- 
dicating that  wonder  would  be  excited ;  but  as  spe- 
cifying the  maimer  in  which  future  events  were  to  be 
brought  into  view.  The  things  which  must  come  to 
pass,  were  represented  by  suitable  signs  to  John 
the  Divine,  l^ri^iiov,  in  this  place,  is  a  sign,  or  suit- 
able representation  of  some  interesting  object."^  In 
verse  3,  the  word  rendered  wonder  is  the  same,  and 
ought  also  to  be  rendered  sign,  or  symbol. 

The  place,  in  which  the  sign  appeared,  denotes  the 
whole  great  system  of  ecclesiastical  polity  through- 
out the  empire.  Heaven  may  be  the  symbol  of  ci- 
vil power,  or  of  ecclesiastical  polity,  more  or  less 
restricted,  as  the  connexion  may  require.  Here,  in 
the  same  heaven,  there  appeared  both  the  woman  and 
the  dragon,  and  the  symbol  must  of  course  be  ex- 

*  It  frequently  occurs  in  this  sense.     Matth.  xii.  38.  and  xvi 
5 — 4.  and  Rom.  iv.  11. 


THE   TRUE    CHURCH.  355 

plained  of  the  visible  church  in  lier  most  extended 
form. 

Distinct  from  this  general  church,  and  yet,  visibly 
connected  with  it,  appeared  tlio  actual  church  of  tlif 
living  God. 

A  womaiiy  in  scripture,  is  used  to  signify  any  bodi/ 
politic — a  city,  a  state,  or  a  church.  We  read  uf  the 
daughter  of  Tyre,  and  of  Babylon,  as  well  as  the 
daughter  of  Jerusalem.  All  nations  have,  indeed, 
been  in  the  habits  of  i-epresenting  cities  and  states 
under  this  symbol.  "  Rome,"  says  Mr.  Woodhouse, 
"  is  represented  upon  the  ancient  medals  under  the 
form  of  a  woman.  Britannia  appears  under  the 
same  emblem." 

This  WOMAN,  revealed  as  a  sign  in  heaven^  is  the  actu- 
al church  of  God,  scattered  among  the  churches  of  the 
western  empire.  She  is  arrayed  in  the  most  splendid 
attire.  Although  about  to  fly  into  the  wilderness, 
and  already  degraded  in  public  estimation,  she  is  in 
fact  elevated  upon  the  moon,  clothed  with  the  sun, 
and  crowned  with  the  stars.  She  is  the  King's 
daughter,  greatly  desired  for  her  beauty.*  The 
moon  upon  which  she  stands,  represents  the  actual 
ordinances  of  divine  grace,  appointed  of  the  Lord, 
and  giving  light  to  the  world,  in  proportion  as  the 
Lord  shines  upon  them.  The  sun,  with  which  she  is 
clothed  as  a  garment,  represents  the  light  and  the 
righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Sun  of  riglUeous- 
ncsSy  and  the  Light  of  the  world.  The  crown  which 
she  wears,  is  the  doctrine  of  the  twelve  apostles  of 
the  Lamb,  and  of  the  ministers  of  reconciliation,  who 

*  Psalm  xlv.  11. 


356  THE   WOMAN   AND   THE   DRAGON. 

succeed  them  in  the  faith  and  the  order  of  the  church. 
Her  pastors  are  her  stars  and  her  crown* 

Thus  constituted,  she  shall  become  the  joyfu! 
inother  of  children.  She  cries  and  labours,  in  her 
faithful  struggles  to  multiply  the  seed  of  righteous- 
ness upon  the  earth. 

The  true  church,  amidst  the  nominally  Christian 
world,  is  opposed  by  a  formidable  adversary. 

2.  The  Dragon  is  her  enemy. 

He  is  described,  verses  3,  4.  And  there  appeared 
another  wonder  in  heaven ;  and,  behold,  a  great  red 
dragon,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  seven 
crowns  upon  his  heads.  And  his  tail  drew  the  third 
part  of  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  did  cast  them  to  the 
earth  ;  and  the  dragon  stood  before  the  woman  which 
was  ready  to  he  delivered,  for  to  devour  her  child  as 
soon  as  it  was  born. 

Concerning  this  celebrated  personage,  there  is  a 
difference  of  opinion ;  for  the  interpretation  which 
we  give  of  the  dragon,  determines  the  period  of  his- 
tory to  which  this  vision  applies. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  conjectures  the  dragon  to  be  the 
Greek  Christian  empire  of  Constantinople.  There 
are  some  who  would  have  it  to  signify  the  present 
British  government,  because  of  the  use  of  scarlet 
among  its  officers  and  soldiers;  and  upon  similar 
principles,  the  greater  number  of  Commentators  ap- 
ply it  to  the  pagan  power  of  ancient  Rome. 

The  sacred  i^xi,  nevertheless,  applies  this  sign  to 
a  more  distinguished  character — To  the  personage. 


SATAN   ACTUATING    CIVIL    POWER.  35? 

whom  those  beasts  and  horns  that  govern  the  king- 
doms of  this  world,  serve.  The  voice  of  inspira- 
tion declares  expressly  that  the  dragon  is  the  devil  ^ 
and  we  follow  this  decision  in  preference  to  the 
opinions  of  learned  men.  Verse  9.  And  the  great 
dragon  was  cast  out,  that  old  serpent,  called  the  devil, 
and  Satan,  nhlch  deceiveih  the  whole  world. 

The  dragon,  the  sign,  <T>;f/,itcv,  of  Satan  himself,  aji- 
pcared  in  heaven  along  with  the  woman. 

It  cannot  therefore  be  applied  to  the  pagan  em- 
pire ;  because,  whether  we  render  heaven  the  symbol 
of  ecclesiastical  or  civil  polity,  the  church  of  God 
and  the  pagan  empire  never  did  contemporaneously 
appear  in  the  same  heaven.  The  pagan  power  never 
appeared  in  the  ecclesiastical  heaven,  nor  did  the 
true  church  ever  appear  in  the  heaven  of  pagan 
power.  This  vision  must  therefore  be  applied  to 
events  posterior  to  the  days  of  Constantine. 

It  respects  a  period  of  time  in  which  Satan  evi- 
dently possessed  such  power  in  the  ecclesiastical 
system  as  openly  to  oppose  the  true  church.  What 
that  power  is,  and  at  what  time  it  is  so  employed, 
also  appear  from  the  text.  And,  behold,  a  great  red 
dragon,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  seven 
crowns  upon  his  heads.  Satan  appears  of  a  red  colour, 
the  emblem  of  persecution,  of  cruelty,  and  of  blood; 
and  his  seat  is  in  the  nominal  church  in  heaven.  He 
is  embodied  in  the  beast,  the  civil  polity  of  that  em- 
pire, which  hath  seven  heads  and  ten  horns.  These 
words  are  illustrated  in  chap.  xvii.  9 — 12.  The 
angel  explains  to  the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse  the 
mystery  of  the  scarlet  coloured  beast  which  hath  the 
seven  heads  and  ten  kornc.     The  seven  heads  are  seven 


358        THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  DRAGON. 

mountains.  And  these  are  seven  kings:  five  are  fatten, 
and  one  is,  and  the  other  is  not  yet  come.  And  the  ten 
horns  which  thou  sawcst  are  ten  kings.  This  is  a  pre- 
cise description  of  that  empire  of  which  the  city  of 
seven  hills  was  the  capital,  and  of  which  the  govern- 
ment had  assuroed  seven  different  heads  or  forms. 
It  is  described  too,  as  actiially  divided  into  ten  sepa- 
rate kingdoms,  widch  have  one  mind,  and  shall  give 
their  power  and  strength  unto  the  beast. 

We  shall  afterwards  designate  the  seven  hills  upon 
which  the  woman  or  the  city  of  Rome  sitteth ;  men- 
tion the  several  successive  forms  of  government 
under  which  the  Romans  lived;  and  give  you  the 
names  of  the  ten  kingdoms  unto  which  this  proud 
empire  was  divided. 

I  shall  only  add  in  this  place,  that  the  Roman  em- 
pire in  its  divided  state,  being  nominally  Christian, 
but  in  reality  antichristian,  is  identified  with  the 
devil,  as  was  the  serpent  in  paradise,  and  for  the  very 
same  reason.  That  fallen  spirit,  in  his  opposition  to 
the  holiness  and  the  happiness  of  man,  actually  pos- 
sessed a  creature  of  the  serpent  kind,  and  through 
it,  attacked  with  success  the  mother  of  mankind. 
Therefore  Satan  is  called  the  serpent.  The  same 
great  adversary,  and  with  the  same  malevolent  de- 
sign, possessed  himself,  in  like  manner,  of  the  poli- 
tical power  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  that  of  each 
of  its  ten  several  kingdoms,  and  continues  to  influ- 
ence and  direct  that  great  political  system,  and  all 
its  parts,  in  opposition  to  the  interests  of  vital  reli- 
gion. The  whole  civil  polity  of  the  antichristian 
nations  being  thus  animated  by  the  god  of  this  world, 
he  is  considered  by  the  text  as  the  soul,  and  the  vi- 


SATAN   ACTUATING    CIVIL    POWER.  359 

sible  authorities,  as  his  body;  and  therefore  he  bears 
the  appropriate  title  of  the  great  red  dragon,  having 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns.^^ 

This  dragon  stood  bifore  the  nonian,  as  did  the 
agents  of  Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt  before  the  Israel- 
itish  women,  to  destroy  their  ofl'siuing.  His  object 
was  to  prevent  faithful  ministers  from  labouring  to 
convert  their  hearers  to  God,  and  to  his  cause ;  and 
to  destroy  all  who,  as  new-born  babes,  desire  the  sin- 
cere milk  of  the  gospel  of  Cluist. 


*  As  this  interpretation  of  the  text  represents  as  diabolical  go- 
vernments tlu  powers  that  be  in  the  dominions  of  anticljrist,  and  ef- 
fectually sets  aside  the  claim  of  allegiance  and  supjjort,  out  of  re- 
spect to  the  ordinance  of  God,  which  the  constituted  authorities 
make  upon  the  Christian  citizens  of  Europe,  it  is  not  improper  that 
I  should  devote  a  foot  note  in  evidence  that  it  is  neither  a  novel 
opinion,  nor  unsupported  by  other  expositors  of  the  Apocalypse, 
/quote  two  distinguished  writers  of  the  Church  of  England. 

*'  As  for  the  dragon  being  the  Greek  empire,  such  an  opinion  13 
utterly  irreconcileable  with  the  plain  declaration  of  St.  John,  that 
he  is  the  devil,  and  nothing  but  the  devil — He  tells  us  unequivocally, 
that  the  great  dragon  is  that  old  serpent,  called  the  devil,  and  Satan, 
which  deceiveth  the  whole  world — The  circumstance  of  his  being 
represented  with  ten  horns,  shows  plainly,  that  the  agent,  through 
whose  visible  instrumentality  he  persecutes  the  woman,  is  the  Ro- 
man empire  in  its  divided  state.^''    Fabcr  in  loco. 

"  For  this  dragon  is  expressly  asserted  to  be  the  ancient  serpent, 
who  is  called  the  devil — This  was  seen  clearly  by  the  most  ancient 
Commentators — The  seven  heads  of  the  dragon  express  an  immense 
command  of  worldly  power — The  numl)er  ten  seems  to  have  re- 
ference to  those  passages  of  the  Apocalypse  and  Daniel,  wherein 
are  to  be  seen  just  so  many  kings  or  kingdoms  promoting  the  in- 
terests of  the  adversary. — The  dragon  is  to  have  great  sway  among 
the  kings  of  the  earth,  whom  he  beguiles  !)y  the  offer  of  that  worldly 
power  which  wa?  rpifcted  by  tbn  Son  of  God."    Woodhouse  in  loco. 


360  THE   WOMAN    AND   THE   DRAGON. 

Witli  nominal  Clnistian  pastors,  he  was  too  suc- 
cessful. His  tail  drew  the  third  part  of  the  stars  of 
heavenly  and  did  cast  them  to  the  earth. 

As  the  heaven  is  to  be  understood  ecclesiastically;, 
so  are  the  stars.  They  are  ministers  of  religion. 
One  class  of  them,  it  appears,  adorns  the  crown  of 
the  true  church ;  but  another  follows  the  tail  of  the 
dragon,  the  devil — ^that  are  under  the  pernicious  in- 
fluence of  the  heast  which  Satan  possessed.  Such  is 
the  degrading  picture  given  of  those  pastors,  who, 
fond  of  show,  and  ambitious  of  distinction,  attach 
Ihemselves  to  the  train  of  earthly  thrones  or  digni- 
ties ;  and  prostitute  their  ministry  to  political  pur- 
poses, in  the  service  of  the  men  of  the  present  world. 
They  follow  at  the  tail  of  the  dragon,  and  are  cast 
down  to  the  earth.  They  are  left  to  promote  the  pur- 
poses of  diabolical  governments. 

As  this  effect  was  produced  on  the  priesthood,  not 
in  the  days  of  pagan  Rome,  but  during  the  apostacy, 
it  determines  the  period  of  time  to  which  the  pro- 
phecy refers. 

AVe  shall  now  introduce  to  your  acquaintance 
another,  and  a  more  interesting  personage,  engaged 
in  this  war,  on  the  side  of  the  woman,  and  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  dragon. 

3.  Michael. 

Verses  5 — 7.  And  she  brought  forth  a  man-childy 
who  was  to  rule  all  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron;  and  her 
child  was  caught  up  unto  God,  and  to  his  throne.  And 
the  woman  fled  into  the  wilderness,  where  she  hath  a 


THE    MAN-CHILD.  301 

place  prepared  of  God,  thai  they  shoiddfeed  her  there 
a  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore  days.  And 
there  was  war  in  heaven;  Michael  and  his  angels  fought 
against  the  dragon,  and  the  dragon  fought  and  his 
angels. 

Bishop  Newton  refers  this  man-child  to  the  first 
Christian  emperor,  Constantine,  in  violation,  not 
only  of  the  various  reasons  for  explaining  the 
prophecy  of  more  recent  events,  but  also  of  the  de- 
scription given  in  the  text.  The  masculine  Son, 
wiov  (X^^2v«,  rules  the  nations  nith  a  rod  of  iron,  being 
caught  up  to  God  and  to  his  throne.  This  description 
is  evidently  borrowed  from  the  prediction  of  the  se- 
cond Psalm  respecting  Jesus  Christ.  Verses  8,  9. 
"  Ask  of  me,  and  I  shall  give  thee  the  heathen  for 
thine  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth  for  thy  possession.  Thou  shalt  break  them 
with  a  rod  of  iron ;  thou  shalt  dash  them  in  pieces 
like  a  potter's  vessel."  This  promise  was  made  to  . 
the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  and  not  to  the  Ro- 
man emperor.  It  is  appropriately  quoted  in  this 
connexion,  to  show^  the  fate  of  the  diabolical  powers 
that  oppose  the  Messiah.  The  description  is  more- 
over applied,  Rev.  xix.  15.  to  the  word  of  God — 
The  King  of  kings;  as  if  to  prevent  all  mistake  as 
to  the  character  who  should  smite  the  antichristian 
nations — He  shall  smite  them  with  a  rod  of  iron. 

The  objection,  that  Messiah  is  not  to  be  repre- 
sented as  the  Son  of  the  Christian  church,  but  of  the 
Jewish,  is  of  no  force.  He  is  the  Son  of  the  church, 
not  as  being  Jewish  or  Christian;  but  as  the  church 
of  God,  and  onCy  under  both  the  dispensations  of 
2  X 


362  THE   WOxMAN   AND   THE    DRAGOK, 

grace.  He  is  represented  here  as  in  the  first  war 
against  the  same  enemy — the  seed  of  the  woman 
that  shall  hruize  the  serpenVs  head.^  Still,  therefore, 
may  the  church  of  God  proclaim  with  joy.  Unto  us 
a  CHILD  is  born,  unto  us  a  son  is  giveji,  and  the  go- 
vernment  shall  he  upon  his  shoulders — the  Prince  of 
peace.j  Still  may  her  faithful  pastors  travail  in  hirth 
again  until  Christ  be  formed  in  their  congregations.} 
The  man-child  in  this  text,  however,  does  not  lite- 
rally  apply.  He  was  passed  into  the  heavens  before 
he  gave  the  Revelation  to  his  servant  John,  and  was 
not,  in  fact,  again  to  be  born  of  a  woman,  on  earth. 
The  prediction  applies  to  Christ  mystical..  Jesus 
Christ  was  alone  in  the  work  of  purchasing  our  redemp- 
tion; but  he  associates  his  seed  with  him,  as  the  body 
of  which  he  is  the  head,  in  the  work  of  conquering  his 
enemies.  And  he  promises  to  his  members  a  partici- 
pation of  the  power  given  to  him  over  the  nations. 
Rev.  ii.  26,  27.  And  he  that  overcometh  and  keepetk 
my  works  unto  the  end,  to  him  will  I  give  power  over 
the  nations:  And  he  shall  rule  them  with  a  rod  of  iron; 
as  the  vessel  of  a  potter  shall  they  be  broken  to  shivers; 
even  as  I  (Psalm  ii.  9.)  received  of  my  Father.  Al 
though,  therefore,  we  refuse  to  Constantine,  whose 
own  personal  religion  was  at  best  questionable,  the 
application  of  this  prophecy,  we  readily  admit  upon 
the  authority  of  Messiah  himself,  that,  this  honour 
have  all  the  saints.^  Yes,  the  spiritual  seed,  along 
with  Christ  the  head,  are  here  described.  "  As  soon 
as  Zion  travailed  she  brought  forth  her  children."!^ 

*  Gen.  iii.  15.    f  Isa.  ix.  6.    t  Gal.  iv.  IP. 
§  Psa.  cxlix.  9.    II  Isa.  Ixvi.  8. 


MICHAEL.  36.3 

"  Of  Zion  it  shall  be  said,  Tliis  and  that  man  was 
born  in  her."*     "  Jerusalem  is  tiie  mother  of  us  all." 

Christ,  the  Head  of  the  churcli,  and  Prince  of  the 
kings  of  the  earth,  as  the  Representative  of  his  peo- 
ple, is  in  defiance  of  the  old  serpent,  the  red  dragon, 
caught  up  to  the  throne  of  God,  while  the  church 
flies  to  the  wilderness  during  the  gloomy  period  of 
1260  years.  Satan  still,  along  with  his  angels,  occu- 
pies a  place  in  the  heaven,  the  nominal  church,  and 
by  means  of  the  diabolical  governments  of  Christen- 
dom, wages  war  against  the  cause  of  God.  The 
man-child  whom  he  sought  to  destroy,  resists  him, 
and  at  the  head  of  his  angels,  conducts  the  war  with 
efficacy. 

As  the  Captain  of  the  Lord's  host,  he  bears  the 
name  Michael.  This  name,  as  well  as  the  work  of 
subduing  the  adversary,  designates  Messiah.  Skj'd 
ivho  is  like  to  God,  points  out  that  personage  who 
thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God.  He  is 
mentioned,  Dan.  xii.  1.  as  The  great  Prince  which 
standeth  for  the  children  of  God's  people.  And  Jude, 
verse  9.  as  The  Archangel  who  contended  with  the 
devil.  Christ,  our  Lord,  had  driven  Lucifer  and  his 
angels  from  heaven  for  their  apostacy;  and  he  now 
appears  in  the  ecclesiastical  heavens  to  conquer  the 
same  enemy. 

n.  Let  us  take  a  historical  view  of  this  contest,  be- 
tween the  true  church  and  diabolical  powers — the  war 
of  the  dragon  with  the  woman. 

'  Psalm  Ixxsvii.  5. 


364  THE   WOMAN    AND   THE    DRAGON. 

From  the  character  of  each  party  in  this  war,  it 
is  sufficiently  manifest  to  what  period  of  history  the 
prophecy  must  be  applied.  The  only  reason, 
arising  from  the  text  itself,  which  has  any  appear- 
ance of  force  in  it,  for  applying  the  prediction  to 
the  pagan  Roman  empire,  is  the  assertion  in  verse 
3d,  that  the  dragon  had  the  crowns  upon  his  heads. 
As  crorvn  is  the  symbol  of  sovereignty ^  it  is  inferred 
from  this  expression,  that  the  ten  horns  were  not  yet 
erected  into  independent  kingdoms;  and  that,  of 
course,  Satan  carried  on  his  opposition  through  the 
agency  of  imperial  power,  and  not  by  means  of  the 
antichristian  kingdoms. 

The  text,  however,  will  not  bear  this  commentary. 
If  we  are  to  infer  from  the  words,  seven  crowns  upon 
his  headSy  that  the  imperial  power  which  was  con- 
fessedly only  the  sixth  head,  existed  at  the  time,  we 
ought  also  to  infer  that  the  preceding  Jive  heads, 
and  the  subsequent  seventh,  were  also  in  existence, 
for  they  are  said  to  be  crowned  as  well  as  the  sixth. 
This  is  too  absurd  to  be  admitted;  and  the  canon  of 
criticism  which  leads  to  this  absurdity,  by  whatever 
names  it  is  supported,  ought  to  be  dismissed.  The 
truth  is,  that  this  mode  of  expression  is  employed  in 
order  to  identify  the  power  by  which  Satan  works. 
It  is  the  Roman  power,  the  fourth  great  least,  and 
being  under  diabolical  influence,  throughout  all  its 
changes,  from  the  days  of  Romulus  until  the  com- 
mencement of  the  millennium,  it  is  justly  represent- 
ed as  the  dragon  with  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,*  al- 

*  Inattention  to  this  obvious  principle,  has  misled  Mr.  Mede, 
bishop  Newton,  and  their  followers.     Because  the  primitive  Chris- 


THE   TIME    OF    THIS    WAK.  liOS 

though  the  several  lieads  were  never  cotemporaiie- 
ously  invested  with  the  sovereignty. 

The  period  of  the  present  history  is,  however, 
distinctly  pointed  out  in  another  part  of  the  chap- 
ter. That  part  furnishes  the  key  to  the  prediction. 
^  erse  6.  The  noman  fled  into  the  wilderness,  where 
she  hath  a  place  prepared  of  God,  that  they  should 
feed  her  there  a  thoitsand  two  hundred  and  threescore 
days.  This  is  her  place,  verse  14.  where  she  is 
nourished  for  a  time,  and  times,  and  half  a  time,  from 

lians  considered  the  pagan  empire  as  possessed  of  the  devil,  these 
writer?  were  led  to  suppose,  that  the  prophecy  of  the  xiith  chaptei 
ehoiild  be  applied  to  that  period.  But  the  Roman  empire  is  through- 
out all  its  forms  diabolical.  All  its  heads  and  horns  arc  the  instru- 
tnctits  of  Satan.  Indeed,  all  immoral  systems  of  government,  of  what- 
ever nation,  are  as  much  identified  with  the  devil,  as  was  the  ser- 
pent in  paradise.  The  benevolent  courtesy  of  Christians,  their  pru» 
dence,  and,  perhaps,  in  some  instances,  an  ignoble  timidity,  have 
prevented  them  from  speaking  plainly  upon  this  subject,  to  the  ru- 
lers of  the  nations.  This  language  was  held,  however,  when  it 
couhl  be  done  with  perfect  safety. 

"  It  is  very  remarkable,"  said  bishop  Newton,  "  that  Constantine 
himself,  and  the  Christians  of  his  time,  describe  his  conquests  under 
the  same  image.  Constantine  saith  in  his  epistle  to  Eusebius,  '  Li- 
berty being  now  restored,  and  that  dragon  being  removed  from  the 
administration  of  public  affairs,  by  the  providence  of  the  great  God, 
and  my  ministry,  I  esteem  the  great  power  of  God  to  have  been 
made  manifest  even  to  all.'  Moreover,  a  picture  of  Constantine 
was  set  up  over  the  palace  gate,  with  the  cross  over  his  head  and 
Tinder  his  feet,  '  the  great  enemy  of  mankind,  who  persecuted  the 
church  by  the  means  of  imj/ioiis  tyrants  in  the  form  of  a  dragon 
transfixed  with  a  dart  into  the  midst  of  his  body.'  "  Euseb.  de  vita 
Constant.  Lib.  3.  Cap.  3. 

Hostem  ilium  et  inimicum  peneris  humani,  qui  impiorum  tyran- 
norum  opera  Ecclesiam  Dei  opruignaverat,  sub  draconis  formn 


366  THE   WOMAN    AND   THE    DRAGOIV. 

the  face  of  the  serpent.  Time,  times,  and  a  half  a 
time,  is  the  well-known  language  of  Daniel,  for  one 
year,  two  years,  and  a  half  year,  and  corresponds 
with  the  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore 
days  above  mentioned.  Three  years  and  a  half,  of 
twelve  months  each,  make  forty  and  two  months,  the 
period  in  which  the  church  remains  heathenish  and 
unmeasured  by  God's  word,  Rev.  xi.  2.  Forty-two 
months,  of  thuty  days  each,  amount  to  one  thousand 
two  hundred  and  threescore  days,  the  period  during 
which  the  witnesses  against  the  apostacy  bear  testi- 
mony in  sackcloth,  Rev.  xi.  3.  It  is  precisely  the 
same  period  during  which  the  woman  remains  in  the 
wilderness.  Both  the  numbers  are  given  for  the  pur- 
pose of  mutual  illustration  and  confirmation.  And 
taking,  according  to  the  prophetic  style,  a  day  for  a 
year,  we  have,  as  the  proper  period  of  the  history  of 
this  chapter,  the  well-known  1 260  years  of  antichris- 
tian  usurpation. 

Upon  the  opinion  of  bishop  Newton,  considering 
the  period  of  1260  years  as  mentioned  in  this  place, 
by  way  of  anticipation,  Mr.  Faber  makes  the  fol- 
lowins;  correct  animadversions. 

"  The  prolepsis,  of  which  the  bishop  speaks,  is  no 
where  to  be  discovered  in  the  plain  simple  language 
of  the  prediction.  I  can  only  discover  a  plain  ac- 
count of  the  ivoman's  persecution  during  1260  days; 
an  account  which  exactly  tallies  with  the  general 
subject  of  the  little  hook;  with  the  1260  days  pro- 
phesying of  the  witnesses,  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
and  with  the  42  months  tyranny  of  the  beast,  in  the 
succeeding  chapter." 


STATE   OF   THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH,  367 

For  six  centuries  since  the  advent  of  our  Saviour, 
the  woman  laboured  in  spiritual  travail ;  and  the  giral 
aduersarj/  of  our  salvation  was  employed  in  Hatching 
her  qff^spring,  with  design  to  torment  htuI  <1estroy 
them:  but  this 

SIXTH    PROPHETIC    VISION 

reveals  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  moral  world,  about 
the  commencement  of  the  seventh  century. 

As  the  empire  of  Christianity  was  extending  in 
name,  it  was  losing  in  purity  and  godliness.  The 
ecclesiastical  heaven  became  dark  and  stormy.  An 
able  historian  gives  the  following  character  of  the 
sixth  century.  •    ^ 

"  The  public  teachers  and  instructers  of  the  peo- 
ple degenerated  sadly  from  the  apostolic  character. 
They  seemed  to  aim  at  nothing  else  than  to  sink  the 
multitude  into  the  most  opprobrious  ignorance  and 
superstition,  to  efface  in  their  minds  all  sense  of  the 
beauty  and  excellence  of  genuine  piety,  and  to  sub- 
stitute in  the  place  of  religious  principles,  a  blind 
veneration  for  the  clergy,  and  a  stupid  zeal  for  a 
senseless  round  of  ridiculous  rites  and  ceremonies. 
To  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  dismal  repre- 
sentation we  have  here  given  of  the  state  of  religion 
at  this  time,  nothing  more  is  necessary  than  to  cast 
an  eye  upon  the  doctrines  now  taught  concerning  the 
worship  of  images  and  saints,  the  Jire  of  purgatory y 
the  efficacy  of  good  works,  i.  e.  the  observance  of 
human  rites  and  institutions,  towards  the  attainment 
of  salvation,  Ihf*  powrr  of  relief  to  heal  diseases  of 


368       THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  DRAGON. 

body  and  mind ;  and  such  like  sordid  and  miserable 
fancies. 

"  In  this  century  the  cause  of  true  religion  sunk 
apace,  and  the  gloomy  reign  of  superstition  extend- 
ed itself  in  proportion  to  the  decay  of  genuine 
piety.  This  lamentable  decay  was  supplied  by  a 
multitude  of  rites  and  ceremonies.  The  western 
churches  were  loaded  with  rites  by  Gregory  *the 
Great,  who  had  a  marvellous  fecundity  of  genius 
in  inventing,  and  an  irresistible  force  of  eloquence 
in  recommending,  superstitious  observances."* 

Our  Lord  and  Saviour,  employing  the  powers  of 
his  own  prescience  upon  this  state  of  the  visible 
church,  prospectively  describes  it  unto  his  servant 
John :  but  Jie'  also  assures  him  that  the  true  church, 
the  woman  clothed  with  the  sun,  raised  up  above  the 
moon,  and  crowned  with  stars,  should  not  be  permit- 
ted to  perish.  She  exists  amidst  the  prevalent  cor- 
ruption :  and  in  the  same  nominal  church  is  found 
her  antagonist,  the  old  serpent^  the  devil.  He,  how- 
ever, while  in  the  communion  of  the  visible  church, 
takes  possession,  as  of  the  serpent  in  Eden,  of  the 
civil  polity  as  best  calculated  to  answer  his  pur^iose 
of  drawing  the  stars  with  his  tail,  and  of  putting  to 
death  the  seed  of  the  woman. 

He  had  always  found  in  the  mistress  of  the  world, 
a.  powder  which  he  could  wield,  whether  under  the 
Pagan  or  Christian  name,  in  opposition  to  actual 
piety ;  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century, 
there  was  at  the  head  of  the  empire  a  man  remark 

^^=^Iosh.  Eccle3.  Hist.  Vol.  II.  p.  120—133.     Phil.  1798. 


THE    HEAD    OF    THE   EMPIRE.  3C9 

ably  qualified  to  answer  his  diabolical  purpose?. 
He  is  thus  described  by  Mr.  Gibbon.  The  charac- 
ter of  Phocas  is  the  portrait  of  a  monster. 
— "  His  diminutive  and  deformed  person,  the  close- 
ness of  his  shaggy  eyebrows,  his  red  hair,  his  beard- 
less chin,  and  his  cheek  disfigured  and  discoloured 
by  a  formidable  scar.  Ignorant  of  letters,  of  laws, 
and  even  of  arms,  he  indulged  in  the  supreme  rank  a 
more  ample  privilege  of  lust  and  drunkenness;  and 
his  brutal  pleasures  were  either  injurious  to  his  sub- 
jects, or  disgraceful  to  himself.  Without  assuming 
the  office  of  a  prince,  he  renounced  the  profession  of 
a  soldier ;  and  the  reign  of  Phocas  afflicted  Europe 
with  ignominious  peace,  and  Asia  with  desolating  war. 
His  savage  temper  was  inflamed  by  passion,  harden- 
ed by  fear,  exasperated  by  resistance  or  reproach. 

"  The  condenmation  of  the  victims  of  his  tyranny- 
was  seldom  preceded  by  the  forms  of  trial,  and  their 
punishment  was  imbittered  by  the  refinements  of 
cruelty :  their  eyes  were  pierced,  their  tongues  were 
torn  from  the  root,  their  hands  and  feet  were  ampu- 
tated: some  expired  under  the  lash,  others  in  the 
flames,  others  again  were  transfixed  with  arrows ;  and 
a  simple  speedy  death  was  mercy  which  they  could 
rarely  obtain :  the  companions  of  Phocas  were  the 
most  sensible,  that  neither  his  favour,  nor  their  ser- 
vices, could  protect  them  from  a  tyrant,  the  worthy 
rival  of  the  Caligulas  and  Domitians  of  the  first  ages 
of  the  empiie."* 

This  is  that  emperor  who  gave  the  saints  of  the 
Most  High  into  the  power  of  the  little  horiiy  by  con- 

*  Hist.  Dec.  Vol.  V.  p.  448—450.    PJiil.  1R0.>. 
2  Y 


370  THE   WOxMAN   AND   THE   DHAGOS^. 

stituting*  pope  Boniface  III.  in  the  year  606,  uni- 
versal bishop,  and  requiring  all  the  churches  to  ac= 
knowledge  the  papal  supremacy.* 

The  dragon  had,  besides  the  seven  heads,  ten  horns, 
or  kingdoms,  all  of  which,  however  they  might  have 
been  distinguished  from  one  another,  and  from  the 
head  of  the  empire,  were  under  his  influence ;  and 
with  the  whole  power  of  the  nations  at  his  own  com- 
mand, he  succeeded  in  dragging  at  his  tail  the  third 
part  of  the  stars  of  heaven. 

The  ministers  of  religion,  in  an  age  of  licentious- 
ness and  superstition,  became  the  ignoble  parasites 
of  antichristian  power;  and  instead  of  serving  with 
piety  and  magnanimity  the  Redeemer  of  God's 
elect,  they  were  degraded  into  diabolical  instru- 
ments of  opposition  to  the  seed  of  the  woman. f 

*  No  man  can  read,  without  a  sigh  for  the  Christian  cause  in  the 
hands  of  a  mercenary  ministry,  those  writings  of  the  pastors  of  tlie 
church  which  represent  tyrannical  and  immoral  power  as  by  the 
word  of  God,  worthy  of  Christian  approbation,  and  conscientious 
support.  No  loyalist  of  any  country  or  sect,  ever  complimented  a 
king  more  than  did  pope  Gregory  the  Great,  this  tyrant  on  his  ac- 
cession to  power.  "  He  contented  himself,"  says  Gibbon,  "  to  re- 
joice, that  the  piety  and  benignity  of  Phocas  have  been  raised  by 
Providence  to  the  imperial  throne,  and  to  pray  that  his  hands  may 
be  strengthened  against  all  his  enemies." 

His  own  words  are  worthy  of  being  held  out  as  the  model  for  all 
the  flatterers  of  immoral  power.  They  will  apply  to  modern  em- 
perors and  kings  as  well  as  to  Phocas. 

Greg.  I.  xi.  Epis.  38.  Indict,  vi.  Benignitatem  vestrae  pictatis 
ad  imperiale  fastigium  pervenisse  gaudemus.  Laetentur  coeli  et 
exultet  terra,  et  de  vestris  benignis  actibus  universac  reipublicai 
populus  nunc  usque  vehementur  afflictus  hilarescat. 

t  "  The  dragon,  as  the  apostle  himself  teacheth  us,  is  '  the  old 
serpent,  the  devil.'     He  is  represented  with  seven  heads  and  ten 


THE   CHURCH    IN   THE   WILDERNESS.  371 

The  exalted  Mediator,  who  liath  received  from 
ihe  Father  power  over  all  flesh,  and  who  himself,  the 
man-child,  admits  every  believer  into  communion 
with  him  in  his  exaltation,  sits  upon  high  to  rule  with 
a  rod  of  iron  all  nations,  and  to  preserve  his  people 
from  the  enemy. 

In  allusion,  not  to  the  imperial  eagle,  but  to  the 
protection  afforded  to  the  children  of  Israel,  on  their 
emancipation  from  the  Egyptian  dragon.  The  woman 
was  furnished  with  the  ivijigs  of  an  eagle,  Exod.  xix. 
4.  that  she  might  Jly  into  the  wilderness  from  the  face 
of  the  serpent. 

The  saints  were  frequently  driven  by  the  frowns 
of  power  into  a  literal  wilderness.  Such  was  the 
case  with  the  pious  occupants  of  the  Alpine  hills 
of  Piedmont;  with  those  who  were  expelled  from 
their  parish  churches  in  the  British  dominions,  to 
worship  on  tlie  barren  heath  and  among  the  moun- 
tains; and  with  those  who  were  compelled  to  emigrate 


ftor/is,  to  show  us  by  whose  visible  agency  he  should  persecute  the 
woman ;  and  he  is  said  to  be  in  heaven,  because  the  empire  which 
he  used  as  his  tool,  made  profession  of  Christianify.  He  is  said 
likewise  to  have  a  tail,  in  reference  to  the  corrupt  superstition  so 
snccessfuiiy  taught  by  the  second  Apocalyptic  beast.  He  causes 
those  Christian  bishops,  whose  sees  lay  in  the  Roman  empire,  the 
third  part  of  the  symbolical  universe,  to  apostatize.  The  aj)pointed 
time,  during  which  he  is  permitted  to  reign,  is  the  120O  years  of  the 
great  apostacy :  hence  the  woman  is  said  to  flee  from  his  face,  du- 
ring precisely  that  period,  into  tiie  wilderness,  as  Eiijah  heretofore 
did  from  the  face  of  Ahab:  and  there,  in  tlie  midst  of  the  spiritual 
barrenness  which  spreads  far  and  wide  around  her,  she  is  fed  with 
the  heavenly  manna  of  the  word  of  God  in  her  prepared  place;  as 
Elijah  was  in  the  waste  and  howling  desert,  by  the  ravens.''  Faber, 
J}i65.  Vol.  II.  pp.  111,112.    Loml.  1806. 


372  THE   WOMAN   APvU   THE    DRAGON. 

to  the  new  world,  before  the  American  continent  had 
begun  to  flourish  under  the  hand  of  cultivation. 

The  wilderness  is,  nevertheless,  to  be  understood 
metaphorically.  The  faithful  followers  of  primitive 
truth  and  order,  during  the  1260  years  of  the  great 
apostacy,  are  preserved  in  a  state  of  comparative 
poverty,  remote  from  the  riches  and  honours  of  the 
earth.  While  the  dragon  controls  the  stars  and  th^ 
hornsy  while  Satan  influences  the  churches  and  the 
politics  of  the  nations,  those  who  live  in  the  fear  of 
the  Lord,  cannot  be  otherwise  than  comparatively  a 
people  who  dwell  alone,  and  are  not  mtmbered  among 
Hie  nations. 

The  dragon  compels  them,  by  tyrannical  imposi- 
tions, to  leave  the  heavens  and  the  cultivated  parts  of 
the  earth  which  he  occupies — to  separate  themselves 
from  the  syi^tems  of  criminal  policy,  by  which  he 
pollutes  the  great  social  concerns  of  Christendom. 
The  Lord,  for  their  preservation  in  the  true  religion, 
disposes  them  to  relinquish  the  honours  and  the 
profit  of  antichristian  churches  and  kingdoms ;  and 
to  prefer,  like  Moses,  to  suffer  affliction  with  the 
people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin 
during  the  season  in  which  the  old  serpent  possesses 
the  w'hole  power  of  the  Roman  empire  throughout 
all  its  ten  kingdoms.  This  is  the  faith  and  the  pa- 
tience of  the  saints. 

After  the  removal  of  the  actual  church  into  the 
w  ilderness,  mentioned  verse  6,  there  is  mention  made 
of  three  successive  attacks  of  the  dragon  upon  the 
friends  of  true  religion.  The  first  is  the  war  in 
heaven,  described  verses  7 — 12.  The  second  is  the 
persecution  on  earth,  described  verses  12 — 16.     And 


WAR    I IV    HEAVEN.  373 

the  third  is  mentioned  in  the  1 7th  verse.  These  are 
three  peculiarly  intcresling  epochs,  in  the  contest  of 
1260  years  duration,  between  the  corrupt  power  of 
a  diabolical  empire,  and  the  true  church  of  the  living 
God.  We  shall  attend  to  each  in  order,  and  then 
conclude  this  discourse. 

1.  The  Avar  in  heaven. 

Verses  7 — 9.  Aiid  there  was  war  in  heaven;  Mi- 
chael and  his  angels  fought  against  the  dragon;  and 
the  dragon  fought  and  his  angels,  and  prevailed  not ; 
neither  was  their  place  found  any  more  in  heaven. 
And  the  great  dragon  was  cast  out,  that  old  serpent, 
called  the  devil,  and  Satan,  which  deceiveth  the  whole 
world:  he  was  cast  out  into  the  earth,  and  his  angels 
were  cast  out  with  him. 

The  allusion,  in  these  words,  to  the  rebellion  of 
angels,  and  their  consequent  degradation  from  the 
place  of  blessedness,  is  too  manifest  to  be  misunder- 
stood. 

Wild  work  in  heaven — 
Go,  Michael,  of  celestial  armies  prince, 
— lead  forth  to  battle  these  my  sons 
Invincible,  lead  forth  my  armed  saints. 

the  great  Son  of  God 

To  all  his  host  on  either  hand  thus  spoke; 

Stand  still  in  bright  array,  ye  saints,  here  stand, 

Te  angels  arm'd,  this  day  from  battle  rest. 

And  full  of  wrath  bent  on  his  enemies, 

Drove  them  before  him  thunder  struck — 

Down  from  the  verge  of  heaven.     Eternal  wrath 

Burnt  after  them  to  the  bottomless  pit.  Milton. 


374  THE   WOMAN  AND   THE   BRAGOJV. 

The  present  contest,  is  the  same  in  principle  with 
the  original  war ;  but  it  is  carried  on  in  a  different 
plare,  and  under  a  different  form.  The  heaven  of 
this  place,  signifies  the  superior  regions  of  ecclesiastical 
power  J  and  Satan  acts  by  the  civil  authority  of  the  em- 
pire. After  the  woman,  the  actual  church,  who  main- 
tained sound  doctrine,  true  discipline,  and  the  legiti- 
mate use  of  the  sacraments,  had  been  carried  into 
the  wilderness,  Satan's  power  in  ecclesiastical  affaire 
became  so  great,  that  by  its  means  he  aimed  at  the 
entire  destruction  of  the  true  religion.  Still,  how- 
ever, he  met  with  opposition.  The  Catholic  church, 
corrupted  as  it  was,  had  not  been  entirely  forsaken 
by  our  Lord.  There  were  saints  preserved  in  its 
communion,  and  Michael,  even  in  this  heaven,  con- 
tended with  the  adversary.  The  secular  power  ap- 
peared at  the  time  of  the  flight  of  the  woman  to  the 
wilderness,  and  for  some  time  before,  to  be  entirely 
identified  with  the  great  enemy  of  righteousness :  he 
is,  of  course,  denominated  the  great  red  dragon,  ha- 
ving  seven  heads  and  ten  horns. 

The  civil  power  waged  this  war  against  the  woman, 
at  the  instigation  of  an  apostate  church,  and  under 
pretence  of  supporting  her  interests. 

**  The  protestants  of  this  age  were  the  Walden- 
SES — their  first  and  proper  name  seemeth  to  have 
been  Vallenses — they  called  themselves  Vallenses, 
because  they  abode  in  the  valley  of  tears,  alluding 
to  their  situation  in  the  vallies  of  Piedmont.  They 
were  called  Alhigenses  from  Alhy,  a  city  in  the 
southern  parts  of  France,  where  also  great  numbers 
of  them  are  situated.     They  were  afterwards  de- 


WAR   IN   HEAVEN.  3/0 

uominated  Valtknses  or  WaldenscSy  from  Peter 
Waldoi  a  ricli  citizen  of  Lyons — From  Lyons  too, 
they  were  called  Lconists,  and  Ckithari,  from  the 
professed  purity  of  their  life  and  doctrine,  as  others 
since  have  had  the  name  of  Puritans."-^ 

The  testimony  of  their  very  enemies  show  them 
to  have  been,  the  ivoman  in  the  wilderness^  the  true 
witnesses  of  their  own  time. 

Reinerius,  at  the  head  of  the  barbarous  inquisi- 
tion, justifies  them  in  the  sight  of  impartial  men,  by 
the  reasons  which  he  urges  for  their  condemnation. 
They  were,  in  his  vieW,  the  most  pernicious  oppo- 
nents of  the  church  of  Rome.  "  And  this  for  three 
reasons.  1st.  This  is  the  oldest  sect;  for  some  say 
that  it  hath  endured  from  the  time  of  pope  Sylves- 
ter ;  others  from  the  time  of  the  apostles.  2.  It  is 
more  general;  for  there  is  no  country  in  which  this 
sect  is  not.  3d.  Because,  when  all  other  sects  beget 
horror  in  the  hearers — this  of  the  Leonists  hath  a 
great  show  of  piety ;  they  live  justly  before  men, 
and  believe  all  things  rightly  concerning  God;  only 
they  blaspheme  the  church  of  Rome  and  the  clergy."t 

The  historiographer  Mezeray  describes  them  in 
this  short  sentence.  "  They  had  almost  the  same 
opinions  as  those  who  are  now  called  Calvini3ts."t 

Besides  these  Dissenters  from  the  church  of  Rome^ 
who  were  persecuted  and  driven  about  among  the 
nations,  there  were  within  her  own  pale  men  of  learn- 
ing and  of  piety,  who,  opposing  error  and  licentiou*?- 

*  Newton'3  Dis3.  Vol.  II.  p.  256.    New-York,  179J. 
t  Re'mer.  Cont.  Hacret.  as^quoled  by  bishop  Newton. 
J  Quoted  also  by  the  bishop  of  Briatol. 


376  THK   WOMAN    AND   THE    DRAGON. 

ness,  were  also  persecuted  often  into  banishment 
and  death.  It  was  not,  however,  until  the  era  of  the 
Reformation,  that  the  war  of  Michael  and  the  dra- 
gon came  to  its  height :  and  it  was  by  that  event  the 
dragon  was  cast  down  from  his  ecclesiastical  eminence, 
and  took  his  stand  upon  the  earth. 

While  the  ecclesiastical  power  was  increasing  in 
its  demands  and  its  influence,  it  was  the  best  station 
for  Satan  to  occupy :  by  papal  bulls  and  decretals, 
he  could  direct  the  civil  arm  against  the  saints  with 
the  utmost  effect :  and  the  pontifical  power  had  been 
gradually  augmenting  from  the  rise  of  the  little  horn 
in  the  year  606,  until  in  the  eleventh  century  it  ar- 
rived at  its  greatest  elevation. 

"  The  authority  and  lustre  of  the  Latin  church,  or 
to  speak  more  properly,  the  power  and  dominion  of 
the  Roman  pontiffs,  arose  in  this  century  to  their 
highest  period,  though  they  arose  by  degrees,  and 
had  much  opposition,  and  many  ditliculties  to  con- 
quer.— The  popes  employed  every  method  which 
the  most  artful  ambition  could  suggest,  to  render 
their  dominion  both  despotic  and  universal.  They 
not  only  aspired  to  the  character  of  suprefne  legisla- 
tors in  the  church,  to  an  unlimited  jurisdiction  over 
all  synods  and  councils,  whether  general  or  provin- 
cial, to  the  sole  distribution  of  all  ecclesiastical  ho- 
nours and  benefices  as  divinely  authorized  and  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose,  but  they  carried  their  in- 
solent pretensions  so  far  as  to  give  themselves  out 
for  Lords  of  the  universe,  arbiters  of  the  fate  of 
kingdoms  and  empires,  and  supreme  rulers  over  the 
Icings  and  princes  of  the  earth*  ^^ 

*  Mosh.  Eccles.  Hist.  Vol.  II.  pp.  459,  460.    Phil.  1798. 


WAR   IN   HEAVEN.  377 

By  the  force  of  truth,  under  the  providence  of 
God,  these  clauns  were  rendered  vain,  and  such  pre- 
tensions made  to  cease  for  ever  at  the  reformation. 

Satan  fell  like  lisjhtning  from  heaven;  the  saints 
rejoiced  in  his  downfal :  and  thioughout  the  several 
churches  of  the  nations,  the  friends  of  reform  be- 
came numerous  and  powerful,  and  raised  their  voices 
in  thanksgiving  to  God. 

Verses  10 — 12.  And  I  heard  a  loud  voicCy  saying 
in  heavcHy  Now  is  come  salvation,  and  strengihy  and 
the  kingdom  of  our  God,  and  the  power  of  his  Christ: 
for  the  accuser  of  our  hrclhrcn  is  cast  down,  which  ac- 
cused them  before  our  God  day  and  night.  And  they 
overcame  him  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  by  the 
word  of  their  testimony  ;  and  they  loved  not  their  lives 
unto  the  death.  Therefore  rejoice,  ye  heavens,  and  ye 
that  dwell  in  them. 

The  devil  has  been  always  considered  as  the  ac^ 
cuser  of  the  godly.  He  excites  wicked  men  to  raise 
false  accusations  against  them ;  he  aggravates  their 
faults ;  he  misrepresents  their  motives ;  and  he  em- 
ploys every  deceitful  effort  to  diminish  their  influ- 
ence and  their  usefulness.  While  acting  as  the  dra- 
gon in  the  church,  he  was  very  successful  in  the 
work  of  falsehood  and  of  blood :  and  in  his  being  cast 
down  the  virtuous  rejoice.  He  appeared  to  succeed 
in  his  accusations  against  them  before  God,  as  in  the 
case  of  Job,  while  they  were  depressed ;  but  now 
the  triumphs  of  the  gospel  admonish  them  of  the 
change— The  Lord  no  longer  admits  the  acnisereven 
to  a  hearing. 

2  7 


378  THE   WOMAN    AND   THE   IJRAGON. 

They  who  survived  the  tempest  occasioned  by  the 
reformation,  recognized  as  their  brethren  those  who 
fell  in  its  defence :  they  make  hononrable  mention 
of  their  names,  while  they  follow  their  steps :  they 
proclaim  them  victorious  even  in  death  :  and,  while 
they  celebrate  their  prowess  in  the  contest  against 
the  dragon,  loving  not  their  lives  ;  while  they  recog- 
nize them  as  the  witnesses  of  the  Lord,  who  deliver- 
ed a  faithful  testimony/  against  the  man  of  sin;  they 
justly  ascribe  their  victory  to  the  word  of  which  they 
were  the  witnesses,  and  to  faith  according  to  that 
word  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  They  rejoice  in  the 
power  and  prevalence  of  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of 
God :  and  if  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  not  as 
yet  become  in  fact  the  kingdoms  of  Christ,  they  hail 
the  reformation  as  the  dawn  of  a  brighter  day ;  they 
anticipate  in  reaping  these  first  ripe  fruits  a  more 
abundant  harvest. 

Eternal  salvation  thus  visited  a  vast  body  of  sin- 
ners ;  the  strength  of  the  Redeemer  was  felt  exten- 
sively in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  over  worldly  em- 
pires ;  and  the  kingdom  of  our  God,  and  the  power 
of  his  Christ,  became  conspicuous,  and  received  glory 
by  that  blessed  event.  Let  it  never  be  forgotten. 
Therefore  let  the  heavens  rejoice. 

Sole  Victor,  from  the  expulsion  of  his  foes 

Messiah  his  triumphal  chariot  turn'd : 

To  meet  him  all  his  saints,  ^vho  silent  stood 

Eye-witnesses  of  his  almighty  acts, 

With  jubilee  advanced;  and  as  they  went 

Sung  triumph,  and  liini  sung  victorious  King.     I\IILTO^ 


PERSECUTION   ON   THE   EARTH.  379 

2.  The  contest  now  assumes  the  form  of  persecu- 
tion on  the  earth. 

Verses  12,  13.  JVo  to  the  inhahilers  of  the  earth 
and  of  the  seay  for  the  devil  is  come  down  vnto  yoUy^ 
having  great  ivraih,  because  he  knowcth  that  he  hath 
hut  a  short  time.  And  when  the  dragon  saw  that  he 
was  cast  unto  the  earth,  he  persecuted  the  woman  which 
brought  forth  the  man-child. 

A  short  time,  comparatively,  from  the  reformation 
of  the  16th  century,  is  yet  remaining  of  the  1260 
years  of  the  apostacy,  at  the  expiration  of  which. 
Rev.  sx.  2.  Satan  is  to  be  bound  one  thousand  years. 
Had  we  dated  the  war  in  heaven  at  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine,  upon  no  allowable  principle  of  interpreta- 
tion could  the  remaining  period  be  called  oKiyov 
ycxi^iv,  a  short  season.  A  space  of  upwards  of  1500 
years  could  not  be  short,  compared  with  the  whole 
time  of  the  Apocalyptical  predictions,  which  cannot 
from  the  apostolical  age  until  the  millennium  amount 
to  2000  years. 

It  will  be  acknowledged  by  all,  that  if  the  war  in 
heaven  does  not  symbolize  the  struggles  of  Chris- 
tianity with  pagan  power,  it  must  be  applied,  as  we 
have  done,  to  the  protestant  reformation;  and  the 
events  now  under  consideration  will  of  course  be 
posterior  to  that  remarkable  era  of  history. 

These  verses  accordingly  designate  the  mode  of 
warfare  practised  by  the  dragon  against  the  church, 
subsequent  to  the  time  in  which  the  power  of  eccle- 
siastical domination  received  its  death-blow. 


380       THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  DRAGON. 

The  place  upon  which  the  contest  of  Satan  with 
the  church  of  God  is  now  carried  on,  is  the  symboli- 
cal earth — the  collective  body  of  the  population  of 
the  empire.*  The  dragon  was  cast  down  from  his 
ecclesiastical  eminence,  when  the  power  of  the  church 
of  Rome  and  the  papacy  was  so  far  reduced  by 
-the  efiect  of  the  reformation,  as  to  lose  in  a  great 
measure  its  terrors  to  the  saints. 

The  advei'sary  still  actuates  that  apostate  church, 
as  well  as  the  empire.  He  Ktill  disturbs  individual 
believers,  and  goeth  about  like  a  roaring  lion  seeking 
whom  he  may  devour.  He  never  ceases  to  oppose 
piety  in  every  place :  but  his  power  to  afiect  injuri- 
ously  THE    GREAT    SOCIAL    CONCERNS    OF     THE     MORAL 

uoRLD,  the  proper  subject  of  the  Apocalyptical 
predictions,  is  now  by  way  of  eminence  displayed  on 
Ihe  symbolical  earth. 

"  When  the  age  of  superstition  and  ecclesiastical 
tyranny  was  past;  when  the  papal  thunders  were  no 
longer  regarded, — he  took  his  stand  upon  the  earth, 
and  again  renewed  his  attacks  upon  the  woman  and 
her  mystic  offspring. — The  Roman  church  was  hence- 
forth only  an  inferior  consideration  with  him :  like  a 
worn-out  instrument,  its  blows  were  not  now  attend- 
ed with  their  former  effects :  a  new  station  must  be 
assumed,  whence  in  an  age  of  literature  and  refine- 
ment, the  woman  and  the  remnant  of  her  seed  might 
be  assailed  with  a  greater  probability  of  victory."! 

He  descends  among  the  mass  of  the  people,  now 
in  consequence  of  the  reformation  become  of  more 

*  Page  127.         ■;  Faber. 


PERSECUTION   ON   THE   EARTH.  381 

importance  in  both  churcli  and  state  than  they  had 
heretofore  been,  having  great  wrath  because  he  an- 
ticipated, from  the  combined  influence  of  religior\, 
and  the  spirit  of  freedom  with  which  it  was  accom- 
panied, the  total  subversion  of  his  empire. 

He  changed  the  mode  of  his  warfare  according  to 
existing  circumstances;  and  he  succeeded.  Wo  to 
the  inhahiters  of  the  earth  and  of  the  sea!  for  the  devil 
is  come  down  to  you.  These  words  are  a  warning  to 
the  Christian  world,  that  the  devil  now  has  descend- 
ed from  the  throne  and  the  altar;  and  will  hence- 
forward do  more  injury  to  mankind,  whether  in  a 
quiescent  or  agitated  condition,  whether  of  the  earth 
or  of  the  sea,  by  popidar  weapons y  than  either  by 
papal  bulls,  or  by  the  sword  of  the  magistrate  w  hich 
enforced  the  decretals  of  the  church. 

It  is  asserted  for  the  comfort  of  the  saints  in  the 
14th  verse,  that  the  woman  had  been  previously  pro- 
vided with  the  wings  of  an  eagle,  to  fly  to  a  place  of 
safety,  and  that  she  shall  there  find  spiritual  nourish- 
ment  until  the  antichristian  period  of  1260  years  is 
come  to  an  end. 

The  principal  design,  however,  of  repeating  in 
this  place  what  had  been  before  the  war  in  heaven 
declared  distinctly  in  verse  6,  respecting  the  sojourn 
of  the  woman  in  the  wilderness,  appears  to  me  to 
have  been  entirely  overlooked  by  the  several  expo- 
sitors of  the  prophecy.  This  circumstance  has  occa- 
sioned much  confusion  in  their  whole  interpretation. 
Even  Mr.  Faber,  who  has  approached  nearest  to 
the  true  meaning  of  this  chapter,  has  been  guilty  of 
this  omission.     Indeed  I  cannot  avoid  considering 


382  THE    WOMAN   AND   THE   ©RAGOPi. 

SO  great  and  so  general  a  misapprehension,  as  coa- 
clu«ive  evidence  of  the  success  of  the  adversary  in 
the  new  mode  of  warfare  which  he  has  adopted  since 
the,  era  of  the  reformation.  And  yet,  as  if  to  anti- 
cipate and  prevent  the  general  deception,  the  Holy- 
Ghost  in  this  verse  puts  us  distinctly  in  mind,  that, 
however  great  the  benefits  of  the  reformation,  and 
however  much  we  are  relieved  from  the  oppression  of 
antichristian  power  in  church  and  state  by  that  event, 
still  the  true  church  is  in  the  wilderness,  and  must  con- 
tinue  to  sojourn  there  until  the  expiration  of  the  timey 
times,  and  half  a  time, from  the  face  of  the  serpent.  Pure 
and  undefiled  Christianity  shall  in  no  place  of  the 
empire  receive  a  permanent  establishment  until  that 
period  is  expired.  It  is  at  best  only  a  mixed  system^ 
which  is  established  in  power,  and  supported  by  the 
policy  even  of  the  protestant  nations.  The  true 
church,  the  woman  standing  upon  the  moon,  clad  in 
the  lustre  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  and  crowned 
with  her  apostolical  stars,  is  still  in  the  wilderness : 
destitute  of  the  smiles  of  the  higher  powers;  deprived 
of  the  fatness  of  the  land ;  but  protected  and  sup- 
ported by  the  word  of  the  Lord  her  God.  This  is 
the  chief  design  of  the  14th  verse.  The  text  then 
proceeds  to  describe  the  new  mode  of  warfare  em- 
ployed by  the  enemy. 

Verse  15.  And  the  serpent  cast  out  of  his  mouth 
water  as  a  flood  after  the  woman,  that  he  might  cause 
her  to  be  carried  away  of  the  flood. 

A  flood  of  water  is  a  very  expressive  metaphor, 
and  is  applied  with  great  latitude  to  very  different 
objects.    It  denotes  victorious  armies,  Isa.  viii.  7. 


PF.RSECUTION   ON   THE   EARTH,  383 

Nah.  i.  8.  Jor.  xlvi.  7.  Ezek.  xxvi.  3.  It  denotes 
any  threatening  assemblage  of  ungodly  men,  Psa. 
xviii.  4.  and  xciii.  3.  It  denotes  divine  judgments, 
of  whatever  kind,  Psa.  xxxvi.  fi.  and  Iwvii.  19.  A 
great  abundance  of  temporal  or  spiritual  blessings, 
is  not  unfrequently  designated  by  a  tlood  of  waters. 
Job  XX.  17.  Ezek.  xlvii.  5.  Generally,  indeed,  a 
flood  designates  something  destructive,  and  is  very 
often  employed  to  represent  troubles,  whether  per- 
secutions and  temptations,  or  profaneness  and  here- 
sies, Psa.  Ixix.  2.  Isa.  lix.  19.  Matt.  vii.  25. 

In  this  case,  it  must  be  understood  of  some  evil 
proceeding  from  Sataiiy  with  design  to  subvert  the 
true  religion,  throughout  the  Roman  empire.  It  is 
also  diflerent  from  the  weapons  he  employed  during 
the  jvar  in  heaven,  in  contending  with  the  reformers — 
not  the  anathemas  of  the  pope,  and  the  sword  of  the 
empire.  It  is  more  obviously  of  the  character  of  a 
sph'itual  adversary,  and  partakes  less  of  the  nature 
of  reasons  of  stale  for  opposing  the  church — it  pro- 
ceeds directly  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  serpent.  It 
is  of  course  of  a  more  popular  character,  and  affects 
the  mass  of  the  multitude  of  antichristian  men — A 
wo  to  the  inhabiters  of  the  earth  and  of  the  sea: 
and  to  complete  its  description,  from  the  text  be- 
fore us,  it  is  authorized  by  the  civil  polity  ;  for  the 
serpent  is  still  the  seven-headed  ten-horned  dragon. 

This  diabolical  flood  denotes  the  torrent  of  here- 
sies and  liccntionsness  in  both  principle  and  practice, 
which  succeeded  in  Europe  the  work  of  reform,  and 
which  received  protection  and  countenance  from  the 
hio-her  dowo]-".     FaL>e  doctrbit*-'  w«.'i<*  ]c<rnli::rd  hf 


384  THE   WOMAN   AND  THE   DRAGON. 

acts  of  toleration;  or  otherwise  by  authoritative  de- 
crees became  a  part  of  the  civil  constitution. 

The  serpent's  design  against  the  woman  was  to 
cause  her  to  he  carried  arvay  of  the  flood;  and  he  too 
far  succeeded  in  blending  with  truth  his  own  false- 
hood. He  thus  obscured  the  light  of  revetation : 
many  pious  men  were  perplexed  by  the  multitude 
of  discordant  opinions  which  were  afloat  around 
them :  the  exertions  of  the  actual  church  of  God 
became,  by  the  disunion  of  her  sons,  less  powerful 
against  the  common  foe  of  all  the  saints :  nominal 
Christians  lived  with  the  world,  while  they  professed 
to  belong  to  the  seed  of  Abraham :  and  by  the  con- 
fusion of  tongues  which  obtained  among  the  build- 
ers of  the  temple,  the  work  of  our  reforming  an- 
cestors was  not  only  retarded,  but  also  permitted  by 
the  neglect,  the  timidity,  the  ignorance,  and  the  fall- 
ing away  of  many  of  their  descendants,  to  sink  into 
forgetfulness. 

Amidst  the  general  defection  of  the  protestant 
churches,  there  is  preserved,  as  in  ancient  Israel,  a 
remnant  according  to  the  election  of  grace.  Verse  16. 
And  the  earth  helped  the  woman;  and  the  earth  opened 
her  mouth,  and  swallowed  up  the  flood  which  the  dragon 
cast  out  of  his  mouth. 

Had  all  those  inhahiters  of  the  Latin  earthy  who 
did  not  belong  to  the  body  of  true  believers,  returned 
in  their  former  bigotry  to  the  bosom  of  the  church 
of  Rome,  it  would  have  been  easy,  humanly  speak- 
ing, to  crush  the  church  in  the  wilderness :  but  the 
prevalence  of  heresies,  and  even  of  infidelity,  among 
the  high  and  the  low,  if  it  was  to  the  multitude  of 


PERSECUTION   ON   THE   EARTH.  38.0 

deluded  men  a  wo,  proved  by  the  disunion,  and  the 
inditlerence  for  truth  or  error  which  it  created,  a 
wall  of  defence  to  the  faithful  Unit  remained.  The 
earth  opened  her  own  mouth,  and  swallowed  up  the 
diabolical  flood,  and  thus  undesignedly  helped  the 
woman. 

The  confusion  produced  in  the  present  convul- 
sions of  Europe,  owing  to  the  prevalence  of  impious 
opinion?,  explains  the  expression,  "the  devil  has 
great  wrath,  because  he  knows  his  lime  is  short." 
The  events  of  the  French  revolution,  a  ierrihlc  no 
to  Ihc  nations,  demonstrates  the  effects  of  the  diaboli- 
cal flood  upon  the  earth  that  swallowed  it;  while  the 
church  amidst  the  storm,  although  in  the  wilderness, 
is  permitted  to  remain  in  tlie  profession  of  truth, 
and  the  comparatively  undisturbed  maintenance  of 
the  faith  of  God's  elect. 

History  confirms  this  interpretation,  by  demon- 
strating that  we  have  not  mistaken  the  character  of 
the  times.  "  In  the  sixteenth  century  there  lay  con- 
cealed in  different  parts  of  Europe  several  persons, 
who  entertained  a  violent  enmity  against  religion  in 
general,  and  in  a  more  especial  manner  against  the 
gospel ;  anc'.  who,  both  in  their  writings  and  in  their 
private  conversation,  sowed  the  seeds  of  impiety 
and  error.  It  is  even  reported  that  in  certain  pro- 
vinces of  France  and  liali/y  schools  were  erected 
whence  these  impious  doctrines  issued."* 

"  Our  English  youth,  who  travelled  even  so  early 
as  the  reign  of  James  I.   returned  too  often  with 

■   Mosheim. 
3  A. 


386  THE    WOMAN    AND    THE    DRAGON. 

the  seeds  of  vice  and  infidelity,  which  they  ga- 
thered with  the  knowledge  and  the  manners  of  more 
polished  countries;  and  the  court  of  Charles  IL 
displays,  in  a  very  striking  manner,  the  principles 
and  habits  which  the  king  and  his  nobles  had  learn- 
ed upon  the  continent."* 

James  II.  who  as  well  as  his  brother  Charles, 
was  himself  a  papist,  while  full  of  enmity  toward 
the  English  and  Scottish  Presbyterians,  found  it  con- 
venient to  afford  these  pious  people  some  mitigation 
of  the  persecution  under  which  they  laboured,  by 
proclaiming  an  act  of  toleration  intended  to  cove^ 
the  opinions  of  his  own  court.  "  By  the  incessant 
labours  of  Voltaire,  his  diabolical  principles  were 
protected  by  the  sovereigns  of  Russia,  Poland,  and 
Prussia,  and  by  an  innumerable  host  of  landgraves, 
margraves,  dukes,  and  princes.  They  had  pene- 
trated into  Bohemia,  Austria,  Spain,  Switzerland^ 
and  Italy.  They  had  many  zealous  advocates  in 
England :  they  had  thoroughly  impregnated  France: 
and  in  short,  had  more  or  less  pervaded  the  whole 
Roman  earth,  where  the  dragon  had  now  taken  his 
station,  after  his  expulsion  from  the  symbolical 
heaven."! 

Systems  hostile  to  the  grace  of  God,  and  to  the 
merits  of  .Jesus  Christ,  Socinianism  and  avowed  in- 
fidelity, together  with  the  several  pernicious  heresies 
connected  with  such  abominable  and  impious  doc- 
trines, received,  as  they  came  out  of  the  mouth  of 
the  serpent,  the  countenance  of  the  constituted  au- 
thorities of  the  several  kingdoms  of  the  man  of  sin 
*  Hist.  Inter.  Prop,        I  Faber 


PERSECUTION    ON   THE    EARTH.  387 

We  live,  brethren,  in  tlie  age  pointed  out  in  this 
prophecy.  Since  the  revival  of  literature  in  Eu- 
rope, and  the  corre^jponding  liberality  of  sentiment 
relative  to  the  civil  and  religious  rights  of  men, 
which  generally  ])revails,  persecution  carried  on  di- 
rectly against  the  saints  has  become  unfashionable. 
The  dragon  wages  war  by  the  flood  of  error  which 
prevails  over  the  nations.  He  has  succeeded  in  poi- 
soning the  fountains  and  the  streams  of  literature; 
and  thus  has  caused  the  higher  ranks  of  life  to  be 
carried  away  of  the  flood  of  infidelity,  or  of  indif- 
ference to  all  religion.  The  celebiated  Condorccty 
describing  the  progress  of  the  human  mind,  unde- 
signedly gives  the  character  of  his  own  age  as  car- 
ried away  by  this  diabolical  flood. 

"  There  was  a  class  of  men  in  Europe,  whose  chief 
object  was  to  attack  prejudices  in  the  very  asylums, 
where  the  ckrgy,  the  schools,  the  governments,  and  the 
ancient  corporations,  had  received  and  protected 
them — In  England,  Collins  and  Bolingbroke;  in 
France,  Bayle,  Fontenelle,  Voltaire,  and  Montes- 
quieu, and  the  schools  formed  by  these  men — Assuming 
every  tone,  taking  every  shape,  from  the  ludicrous 
to  the  pathetic,  from  the  most  learned  and  extensive 
compilation  to  the  novel  or  petty  pamphlet — adopt- 
ing the  words,  reason,  toleration,  and  humanity,  as 
their  signal  and  call  to  arms." 

This  part  of  the  prophecy  synchronizes  with  the 
commencement  of  the  third  no  trumpet;  with  the 
sixth  vial,  as  will  afterwards  more  fully  appear;  and 
with  the  harvest  of  Ciod'g  wrath. 


388       THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  URAGOK. 

3.  The  concluding  verse  of  this  chapter  describes 
the  last  part  of  the  contest. 

Yerse  17.  And  the  dragon  was  wroth  with  the  wo- 
man, and  went  to  make  war  with  the  remnant  of  her 
■seed,  which  keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and  have 
the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ. 

*'  This  will  be,"  said  Mr.  Faber,  "  the  last  great 
effort  of  Satan  against  the  church  previous  to  the 
commencement  of  the  millennium.  We  know  that 
it  must  commence  after  the  drajjon  has  been  cast 
out  of  heaven ;  after  he  has  taken  his  station  upon 
earth ;  after  he  has  vomited  forth  a  flood  against  the 
mystic  woman  j  after  the  earth  has  swallowed  up 
the  flood ;  when  every  current  event  bears  testimo- 
ny that  the  third  wo  trumpet  is  sounding,  that  the 
vials  of  the  last  plagues  are  pouring  out,  and  that 
Satan  is  come  down  having  great  wrath."* 

*  This  writer,  whose  judgment  is  often  perverted  by  political 
prejud'ce,  considers  "  tlio  kingdom  of  England''''  as  identified  with 
the  church  of  God,  an<l  of  course  a  special  object  of  this  last  \Yar. 
Hem-hthave  spared  his  fears  upon  this  account.  However  una- 
ble Mr.  Faber  may  be  to  distinguish  between  the  present  British 
government,  and  the  actual  church  of  Christ,  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
making  such  distinction.  The  difference  between  the  two  was 
well  known  to  the  author  of  prophecy.  It  is  maintained  in  the 
proi)hecy  itself.  It  is  readily  perceived  by  the  saints.  Whatever 
may  be  the  fate  of  the  British  crown  and  constitution,  England  is 
not  as  a  kingdom  the  oly'ect  of  this  war.  It  is  waged  against  quite 
a  different  class  of  men — against  those  rvho  keep  the  commeindmcnts 
of  God,  and  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ.  Surely  those  who 
reap  the  fruits  of  the  most  fertile  fields,  and  enjoy  the  fatness  of 
the  land,  cannot  be  "  the  woman  in  the  wiklerness."  Upon  no 
principle  of  legitimate  criticism,  can  this  character  be  applied  to 


THE    LAST   WAR   AGAINST   THE   WITNESSES.        389 

This  lost  nor  waged  by  Ihe  dragon  is  identified 
with  (hat  in  which  the  nilnesses  are  slain ;  and  will 
be  more  ohiiousli/  a  persecution  of  the  saints,  than 
thai  kind  of  warf^ire  which  at  present  exists. 

When  the  enemy  come  in,  as  in  the  period  formerly 
described,  like  a  Jlood,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  lifted 
tip  a  standard  against  him.^ 

This  promise  has  been  accomplished.  However 
great  the  Jiood  of  errors  with  which  Satan  has  been 
endeavouring  to  carry  away  the  saints,  the  Spirit  of 
ihe  Lord  iiatli  supported  and  encouraged  the  seed  of 
the  righteous,  and  they  have  overcome  by  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb,  and  the  testimony  which  they  hold. 

They  have  met  every  heresy  with  piety  and  argu- 
ment :  they  have  refuted  every  calumny  against  the 
gospel  with  meekness  and  fear:  they  have  caused 
every  appeal  to  reason  and  to  literature,  to  redound 
to  the  glory  of  the  God  of  truth,  in  the  confusion  of 
their  adversaries :  they  have  met  tlie  scholar,  the  phi- 

"  the  protestant  kingdom  of  England,"  or  to  its  great,  splendid,  and 
opulent  hierarchy.  There  are,  it  is  true,  thousands  in  his  majesty's 
dominions,  yea,  many  within  the  very  pale  of  the  establishment, 
who  witness  for  the  truth,  and  unto  whom  the  descrij)tion,  in  part  at 
least,  applies.  But  whatever  may  prove,  in  that  day,  to  be  the 
condition  personally  of  the  learned  Vicar  of  STocKTON-tTON- 
Tees,  he  need  not  apprehend  that  (his  last  war  waged  by  the  dra- 
gon against  the  church  in  the  wilderness  who  keep  the  commandments 
of  God,  will  be  a  persecution  of  the  royal  family,  or  of  "  the  lords 
spiritual  and  temporal"  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  far  more  likely  to 
fall  U|)on  that  despised  people,  (he  Puritans,  whom  Mr.  Faber, 
and  the  author  quoted  by  him  with  approbation,t  very  illiberally 
hold  up  to  general  detestation  for  hypocrisy  and  fanaticism. 
■  Isa.  lix.  19. 

t  Vol.  11.  p.  120 


'i90  THE   WOMAN   AND    THE    DKAfiO^. 

losopher,  the  critic,  and  the  sceptic,  and  have  ably 
and  learnedly  demonstrated  that  Christianity  is  wor- 
thy of  our  faith,  that  its  peculiar  doctrines  are  capa- 
ble of  vindication  and  of  proof,  and  that  it  is  the 
only  religion  which  gives  to  the  true  God  the  praise 
which  is  worth}  of  him ;  which  affords  to  the  sinner 
the  only  solid  hope  of  reconciliation  with  God ;  and 
which  shall  eventually  bless  the  inhabitants  of  the 
earth  with  civilization,  with  comfort,  and  with  peace. 

The  present  era  of  Christianity  deserves  to  be 
called  "  THE  AGE  OF  REASON,"  upoH  far  different 
principles  from  those  which  induced  Mr.  Thomas 
Paine  to  bestow  upon  it  that  name.  More  argument 
and  intellect  have  been  employed  since  the  time  of 
the  protestant  reformation  in  examining  and  illustra- 
ting the  doctrine  of  Christ,  than  there  have  been 
employed  in  the  same  way  at  any  period  since  the 
world  began.  The  banner  of  truth  has  been  emi- 
nently displayed;  and  the  art  of  printing,  in  the  pro- 
vidence of  God,  hath  stamped  perpetuity  upon  the 
labours  of  the  faithful.  Future  generations  shall 
reap  from  the  labours  of  the  present,  although  it  has 
been  a  seed-time  of  tears,  a  very  luxuriant  harvest. 
There  shall  be  an  handful  of  corn  in  the  earth  upon  the 
top  of  the  mountains ;  the  fruit  thereof  shall  shake 
like  Lebanon :  and  they  of  the  city  shall  flourish  like 
grass  of  the  earth. 

To  the  symbolical  earth,  nevertheless,  the  flood 
of  diabolical  opinions  which  flowed  from  the  mouth 
of  the  dragon,  proved  a  great  wo.  And  the  enemy 
7vas  wroth  at  the  disappointment.  Again  he  changes 
the  manner  of  attack.    It  is  the  dragon  in  all  the  terror 


CONCLUSION.  :s9l 

of  tyiannical  persecuting  power,  the  diabolical  beast 
with  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  tiiat  puts  the  wit- 
nesses to  death.  The  civil  sword  is  again  unsheathed, 
and  in  this  last  contest  bathed  in  the  blood  of  martyr- 
dom. "  The  dragon  was  tvroth  with  the  woman,  and 
nent  to  wake  war  upon  the  remnant  of  her  seed."* 

It  is  in  relation  to  former  martyrs,  to  those  who 
had  suffered  under  pagan  and  paj)al  domination,  that 
the  objects  of  this  war  are  called  the  remnant. 
Their  character  is  put  beyond  a  doubt.  Theirs  is  a 
real,  not  a  nominal  religion,  a  soul-sanctifying,  not  a 
political  Christianity.  They  keep  the  commandments 
of  Gody  and  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ. 
"  They  are  those,"  said  Dr.  .Johnston,  "  who  in  mat- 
ters of  religion  strictly  adhere  to  the  commandments 
of  God.  They  do  not  make  void  the  law  of  God 
by  human  traditions,  nor  teach  or  believe  as  doc- 
trines of  God,  the  commandments  of  men.  They 
firmly  believe,  and  heartily  approve  of  that  testi- 
mony which  is  given  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  of  the 
natures,  character,  offices,  and  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  they  boldly  give  their  testimony  to  these. 
It  is  scarcely  possible  to  draw  a  more  exact  and 
marked  description  of  the  character  of  true  Chris- 
tians than  this  one." 

coNCLtJsiorf. 

From  this  exposition,  Christians,  and  we  leave  it 
with  your  understanding  and  your  conscience  to 
judge  wliether  it  be  not  agreeable  to  the  word  of 

*  Page  329. 


392  CONCLUSION. 

God — from  this  exposition,  you  may  learn  in  what 
estimation  you  are  to  hold  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
establishments  of  the  antichristian  empire.  If  you 
are  willing  to  make  a  proper  estimate  of  their  moral 
character ;  if  you  would  examine  them  in  the  clear 
light  of  this  divine  prospective  history;  if  you  would 
judge  of  them  as  the  infallible  God  hath  described 
them,  you  will  have  an  unwavering  conviction  of 
their  being  diabolical  establishments,  opposed  alike 
to  the  Son  of  God,  and  to  the  remnant  of  the  church's 
seed — the  dragon  against  the  wowan  and  the  man- 
child.  I  leave  you  to  infer  what  claim  they  have 
upon  your  affections,  upon  your  approbation,  and 
your  prayers.  I  address  myself  to  you,  who  are  the 
disciples  of  my  Saviour,  who  believe  in  his  name  and 
espouse  his  cause,  and  who  are  placed  in  the  ranks 
under  Michael  the  Archangel  and  captain  of  the 
Lord's  host,  I  beseech  >ou,  dear  brethren,  never  per- 
mit yourselves  to  mistake  th^  nature  of  this  contest. 
Let  not  true  religion  ever  be  in  your  estimation 
identified  with  the  cruel  dragon,  with  any  of  his 
heads  or  of  his  horns.  Let  not  your  eyes  be  dazzled 
by  the  glare  of  his  power,  or  your  hearts  mis- 
guided by  the  stars  which  are  swept  from  heaven  to 
earth,  or  suspended  at  the  tail  of  the  persecuting 
monster — the  pastors  whom  he  keeps  to  serve  him. 
Let  not  your  sympathies  be  withdrawn  from  that 
mourning  widow  in  the  wilderness — from  those  wit- 
nesses clothed  in  sackcloth — let  them  not  be  mis- 
placed upon  those  corrupt  systems  which  Jehovah 
hath  sworn  in  his  justice  to  destroy.  I  urge  upon 
Christian  principles,  that  which  is  the  evident  moral 


CONCLUSION.  •  393 

and  political  duty  of  this  rising  empire,  this  great 
and  growing  republic.  I  urge  it  upon  you  from  the 
considerations  whicli  my  text  suggests,  not  to  imitate 
the  maxims  of  social  order,  not  to  covet  the  policy, 
or  approve  of  the  conduct,  of  the  antichristian  na- 
tions of  Europe.  Amity,  commerce,  and  ])eace 
with  them  all,  you  may,  and  you  ought,  upon  prin- 
ciples of  just  reciprocity,  to  cultivate ;  but  no  en- 
tangling alliances,  no  identitication  of  feelings  and 
of  interests,  no  community  of  moral  or  religious 
opinions,  with  powers  influenced  by  the  old  scrpenU 
the  great  red  dragon. 

You  will  never  forget,  that  the  Spirit  of  God  de- 
nominates the  errors,  the  show  of  learning,  the 
philosophism,  of  the  enemies  of  the  doctrines  of 
grace,  and  of  the  scriptures,  ^  flood  from  the  mouth  of 
the  serpent;  and  from  a  distance  you  will  contem- 
plate with  astonishment  the  wo  which  it  brings  upon 
the  kingdoms  which  imbibed  the  poison :  you  will 
consider  as  the  predicted  effects  of  this  flood,  the 
desolating  judgments  of  modern  Europe ;  and  you 
will,  I.  trust,  stand  in  awe,  and  unhesitatingly  reject 
the  impious  innovations  from  among  you.  You 
have  witnessed  in  the  impiety,  the  licentiousness,  the 
horrors,  and  the  massacres,  of  Revolutionary  France, 
the  fruits  which  they  yield.  In  proportion  as  you 
deviate  from  evangelical  doctrine,  and  Christian  mo- 
rality, you  expose  yourselves  to  similar  danger. 

Mistake  me  not.  I  urge  this  detestation  of  here- 
sy and  infidelity,  not  for  the  base  purpose  of  divert- 
ing your  attention  from  the  ten-horned  dragon  him- 
self: not  for  the  purpose  of  directing  your  attarh- 


394  CONCLUSION. 

ment  to  the  old  and  corrupt  establishments  of  Eu* 
rope.  No.  I  am  not  the  apologist  of  superstition, 
of  hypocrisy,  or  of  despotism.  I  do  not  wish  to  con- 
tribute to  the  prolongation  of  any  diabolical  power. 
My  prayers  are  against  all  the  horns  of  the  beast . 
they  are  in  union  with  the  cry  which  you  hear  from 
the  altar,  "  How  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost 
thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that 
dwell  on  the  earth  ?" 

The  reply  to  this  prayer  is  admonitory  to  us.  It 
checks  impatience.  Rest,  then,  my  brethren,  until 
the  catalogue  of  martyrs  is  complete,  then  shall  the 
nations  cease  to  be  impious  and  tyrannical. 

There  is  a  day  of  trial  approaching  the  Lord'* 
people  in  the  world.  It  is  not  upon  the  11th  chap- 
ter alone  we  rest  the  belief  that  the  slaughter  of  the 
witnesses  is  yet  future.  It  appears  from  other  parts 
of  the  Apocalypse.  It  appears  from  this  chapter. 
The  concluding  passage,  the  last  war  of  the  dragon^ 
synchronizes  with  a  part  of  the  third  wo — with  the 
death  of  the  witnesses — with  the  vintage — and  with 
the  last  of  the  vials. 

We  do  not  predict  future  judgments  for  your 
discouragement.  Under  the  care  of  the  Shepherd 
of  Israel,  we  fear  no  evil.  "  May  we  be  found  like 
Daniel,  to  rest  and  stand  in  our  lot  at  the  end  of  the 
day''    Amen. 


THE  TWO  BEASTS 


LECTURE  XII. 


ReT.  xiii.  1,  2,  11.  And  I  stood  upon  the  sand  of 
the  sea,  and  saiv  a  least  rise  vp  out  of  the  sea,  having 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  upon  his  horns  ten 
cronns,  and  upon  his  heads  the  name  of  blasphemy. 
And  tlie  beast  ivhieh  I  saw  was  like  unto  a  leopard,  and 
his  feet  were  as  the  feet  of  a  bear,  and  his  mouth  as  the 
mouth  of  a  lion;  and  the  dragon  gave  him  his  power, 
and  his  seat,  and  great  authority. — And  I  beheld 
another  beast  coming  up  out  of  the  earth  ;  and  he  had 
two  horns  like  a  lamb,  and  he  spake  as  a  dragon. 

A  HE  prophet  Zeclmriah,  who  accompanied  in  the 
work  of  restoration  and  reform,  the  two  anointed 
witnesses  of  the  Lord,  Joshua  and  Zerubbabel,  was 
instructed,  by  the  angel  that  communed  with  him,  to 
cry,  saying,  The  Lord  shall  yet  comfort  Zion,  and  shall 
yet  choose  Jerusalem.  In  order  to  illustrate  the  pro- 
mise, he  was  favoured  with  a  prophetic  vision. 
«  Then  lifted  I  up  mine  eyes,  and  saw,  and,  behold, 
four  horns — these  are  the  horns  which  have  scattered 
Judah,  Israel,  and  Jerusalem.     And  the  Lord  show- 


39t)  THE    TWO    BEASTS. 

ed  me  four  carpenters  —^hese  are  come  to  fray  them^ 
to  cast  out  the  horns  of  the  Gentiles,  which  lifted  up 
their  horn  over  the  land  of  Judah.'** 

Long  have  the  agents  employed  by  the  Lord,  with 
the  instruments  of  his  indignation,  been  at  work  in 
fraying  the  horns  which  have  scattered  Judah,  al- 
though the  work  is  not  yet  accomplished.  He  who 
promised,  is  nevertheless  able  to  perform:  and  he 
w^ill  perform  it,  when  "  the  time  to  favour  Zion,  the 
set  time,  is  come." 

In  the  mean  time,  let  us  learn  to  live  by  faith,  and 
derive  instruction  from  the  inspired  history  given  of 
the  enemy. 

This  chapter  is  the  most  explicit  and  comprehen- 
sive history  which  we  have  of  the  great  apostacy  of 
1260  years,  both  as  it  respects  the  secular  beast,  and 
the  ecclesiastical  beast,  as  well  as  the  living  image  of 
the  imperial  beast,  which  the  ecclesiastical  power  has 
set  up  in  the  office  of  the  papacy. 

It  is  my  design  in  this  discourse,  according  to  pro- 
mise,t  to  give  you  the  interpretation  of  the  first 
BEAST,  the  ten-horned  beast  of  the  sea — of  the  second 
BEAST,  the  tno-horned  beast  of  the  earth — together 
with  the  IMAGE  of  the  beast,  his  mark,  his  name,  and 
the  NUMBER  of  his  name. 

I.  The  seven-headed  ten-horned  beast. 

When  the  apostle  John  had  this  seventh  prophetic 
vision,  he  was  standing  upon  the  sand  of  the  sea. 

*  Zech.  i.  17—21. 
T  Page  249,  to  which  the  reader  is  referred. 


THE    FIRST   BEAST.  397 

The  scenery  corresponds  with  the  representation ; 
and  prol)ably  too,  the  scite  is  intended  to  designate 
the  condition  of  the  empire  at  the  time  to  which  this 
prophecy  refers.  "  The  sand  of  the  sea,  situated  be- 
tween the  sea  and  the  dry  land,  signifies  a  state  of 
civil  society,  when  the  convulsions  of  the  preceding 
fluctuatiFig  state  are  just  ending,  and  the  calmness 
and  firwmess  of  established  government  are  just  com- 
mencing."* 

"  The  first  character  introduced  to  view  in  the 
vision,  is  one  with  which  we  have  been  previously 
made  acquainted.  He  is  here,  however,  more  fully 
and  minutely  described.  The  prophet,  after  having 
conducted  us,  as  it  were,  behind  the  scenes,  and  shown 
us  that  every  string,  both  of  the  great  apostacy,  and 
of  the  tyranny  of  antichrist,  is  in  reality  worked  by 
the  infernal  serpent,  next  proceeds  to  bring  us  ac- 
quainted with  the  characters  of  the  ostensible  agents^ 
by  whose  instrumentality,  and  through  whose  insti- 
gation, the  church  was  to  be  persecuted  through  the 
long  period  of  1260  years.  In  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, the  dragon  is  represented  as  persecuting  the 
woman  with  his  seven  heads  and  ten  horns:  here  we 
have  the  symbol  of  a  beast,  which  has  likewise  seven 
heads  find  ten  horns.  Now  since  the  dragon  is  decla- 
red to  l>e  the  devil,  the  heads  and  the  horns,  wliich  he 
is  described  as  using  against  the  rvoman,  must  be  the 
lieads  and  the  horns  of  some poner  suhservienl  to  his 
views.     This  power  is  now  brought  upon  the  stage."t 

This  first  beast  is  the  secular  power  of  the  Roman 
empire  in  its  divided  state. 

*  Johnston.  j  Fabcr  in  loco. 


'JQB  THE   TWO    BEASTS. 

"  Thus  far,''  said  bishop  Newton,  "  both  ancients 
and  moderns,  papists  and  protestants,  are  agreed.''^ 
The  evidence  is  so  clear,  that  no  one  can  doubt  the 
design  of  pointing  out  the  Roman  power  by  this 
vision :  and  the  following  considerations  will  show 
that  the  description  applies  to  the  secular  power  of 
the  antichristian  empire. 

1.  We  cannot  consent,  as  a  compliment  to  the  pa- 
pists, so  far  to  violate  the  express  decisions  of  the 
text  itself,  as  to  apply  it  to  the  pagan  empire,  not 
only  because,  then  there  were  not  ten  horns,  or  dis- 
tinct kingdoms,  within  its  bounds ;  but  especially  be- 
cause this  beast  is  to  remain  1260  years,  verse  5: 
and  the  pagan  empire  from  the  Augustan  age  to  the 
accession  of  Constantine  the  Great,  endured  only 
about  350  years:  even  from  the  days  of  Romulus 
its  founder,  until  it  ceased  to  be  pagan,  the  city  of 
Rome  had  not  stood  1100  years,  and  it  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  history  of  the  church  for  the  greater 
part  of  that  period.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  pagan 
Rome  that  received  power  to  act  against  the  saints, 
iroKiixov  TTQuja-oit,  Forty  and  two  prophetic  months. 

We  have  already  observed,  that  these  chapters, 
from  the  xith  to  the  xvth,  are  especially  designed  to 
prepare  the  way  for  the  account  given  of  the  effu- 
sion of  the  vials;  and  that  they  of  course  refer  to 
the  antichristian  period. 

Still,  hovvever,  the  question  arises  concerning  this 
first  beast ;  is  it  the  symbol  of  the  secular  empire  in 
general,  or  of  the  papacy  ? 

The  principles  of  exposition,  upon  which  I  have 
bitherto  proceeded,  took  for  granted  what  now  plain- 


CHE    FIRST    BKAST.  399 

[y  appears,  that  three  distinct  antichristiaii  powers 
are  described  in  this  chapter,  the  first  beast  with 
ten  horns,  or  the  secuhir  Roman  empire  ;  the  second 
BEAST  ivith  two  horns  like  a  lamb,  or  the  ecclesiastical 
empire;  the  image  of  the  first  beast  made  by  the  se- 
candy  or  the  papal  power. 

Thus,  with  perfect  accuracy,  does  the  Apocalypse 
itself  distinguish  the  several  great  powers  of  the 
apostacy,  assigning  to  each  its  proper  work  and  cha- 
racter ;  and  effectually  correct  the  too  common  mis- 
take of  rendering  the  temporal  poner  of  the  pope, 
which  arose  in  756,  the  same  with  the  beast  which  is 
to  continue  42  months,  or  1260  years. 

It  was  never  the  design  of  the  sacred  prediction-- 
to  identify,  contrary  to  matter  of  fact,  the  petty  prin- 
cipality of  the  pof)e  as  a  temporal  power,  with  the 
great  empire  :  in  that  character  he  neither  united  or 
governed  the  several  nations  of  Europe :  he  had  no 
power  to  influence  the  condition  of  the  church  over 
the  Latin  earth :  and  he  occupied  but  a  very  infe- 
rior rank  in  the  great  family  of  nations :  and  what 
abundantly  testifies  the  absurdity  of  making  the 
temporal  power  of  the  papacy  the  same  as  the  beast, 
is  that  that  power  is  now  entirely  at  an  end,  while  the 
beast  still  reigns,  and  must  reign,  until  the  time  of 
the  end. 

2.  That  this  first  beast  is  the  secular  Roman'^nj- 
pire,  is  manifest  from  the  prophecy  of  Daniel. 

Dan.  vii.  2,  3,  7,  17,  23,  24.  Daniel  spake  and  said, 
I  saw  in  my  vision  by  night,  and,  behold,  the  four  winds 
of  the  heaven  strove  upon  the  great  sea.     And  fovr-. 


400  THE    TWO    BEASTS. 

great  beasts  came  up  from  the  sea— fourth  beast  dread- 
ful and  terrible,  and  strong  exceedingly ;  and  it  had 
great  iron  teeth  ;  it  devoured  and  brake  in  pieces,  and 
stamped  the  residue  with  the  feet  of  it :  and  it  had  ten 
horns — These  great  beasts,  which  are  four,  are  four 
kings — The  fourth  beast  shall  be  the  fourth  kingdom, 
upon  the  earth — And  the  ten  horns  out  of  this  king- 
dom are  ten  kings  that  shall  arise. 

This  prophecy  runs  parallel  to  that  of  the  second 
chapter,  and  runs  down  from  the  time  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar until  the  millennium.  In  chap.  ii.  the  four 
monarchies  are  represented  by  the  four  parts  of  one 
great  image — One  great  continuous  system  of  idola- 
try: 1.  The  head  of  gold;  2.  The  breast  and  arms 
of  silver ;  3.  The  belly  and  thighs  of  brass ;  4.  The 
legs  of  iron,  and  the  toes  of  the  feet,  part  of  iron 
and  part  of  clay,  to  designate,  as  the  prophet  says, 
that  this  kingdom  shall  he  partly  strong  and  partly 
broken — they  shall  not  cleave  one  to  another.*  In  verse 
38,  Daniel  says  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  "  Thou  art  this 
head  of  gold,"  and  in  verse  44,  he  assures  us,  that 
the  reign  of  these  broken  kingdoms,  symbolized  by 
the  ten  toes  of  mixed  iron  and  clay,  should  terminate 
only  with  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  Christ 
in  the  millennium. 

The  vision  of  the  seventh  chapter  terminates  at 
the  same  time,  verse  27.  Wtien  the  kingdom,  and  the 
dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom  under  the 
ivhole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the  people  of  the  saints 
of  the  Most  High. 

*  Daniel  ii.  32,  33,  42,  43. 


THE   FIRST    EEAbT.  401 

The  fourth  kingdom,  in  the  dream  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, therefore,  coincides  with  the  fourth  in  the 
vision  of  Daniel ;  and  tlic  ten  toes  of  tlie  image  an- 
swer to  tlie  ten  Ijorns  of  the  fourth  beast. 

The  formal  design  of  these  prophecies  is,  to  give  a 
compreliensive  view  of  the  great  and  idolatrous  pros- 
titution of  civil  power  during  the  specified  time; 
and  to  give  warning  of  the  opposition  to  true  reli- 
gion which  should  uniformly,  for  that  period,  cha- 
racterize the  several  systems  of  government  among 
the  nations.  We  are  not  then  to  suppose  that  the 
apostle  John,  or  rather  the  God  who  inspired  him, 
would  deviate  in  the  Apocalypse  from  this  plan  of 
the  prophetical  history.  Since  the  beast  of:  Daniel" 
is  the  Roman  empire  in  its  secular  character,  tho 
beast  of  JoImi  must  be  the  same.* 

Daniel's/oMr/Zt  beast  k  the  Roman  empire  through- 
out. The  fourth  beast  with  ten  horns  is  that  empire 
in  its  divided  state. 

The  little  horn,  diverse  froui  all  the  rest,  indeed 
symbolizes,  as  we  shall  hereafter  show,  ecclesiastical 
porver,  and  answers  to  the  second  beast  of  this  chapter; 
but  the  beast  with  ten  horns  is  the  same  in  both 
cases,  and  designates  not  the  ecclesiastical,  but  the 
civil  empire,  with  its  several  kingdoms. 

3.  This  interpretation  is  supported  by  tlie  otheK 
pails  of  the  Revelation  which  speak  of  the  beast. 

In  chapter  xvii.  3.  the  ecclesiastical  state,  under 
the  symbol  of  a  great  harlot,  is  distinguished  from 
-  *  This  idea  has  already  been  discussed  in  thr-se  Lecturr«».  See 
pages  44,  and  79— 85.  and  118— 123. 

3  r 


402  THE   Two   BEASTS. 

the  scarlet-colour cd  beast  which  supports  her:  it  is 
the  secular  poAver,  not  the  papacy,  that  bears  up  this 
prostitute  system  of  religion:  and  it  is  the  same  beast 
with  that  now  under  consideration,  for  it  has  seven 
heads  and  ten  horns.^ 

This  chapter  throughout  is  a  commentary  upon 
the  xiiith,  and  maintains  the  distinction  between  the 
three  great  parties  already  mentioned — the  state, 
the  church,  and  the  papacy — or  the  beast,  the  harlot 
woman,  and  the  image  of  the  beast. 

In  chap.  xix.  20.  these  three  parties  are  again 
mentioned  as  distinguished  from  one  another,  at  their 
downfal.  The  ecclesiastical  system  is,  in  this  case, 
as  well  as  in  others  hereafter  to  be  explained,  deno- 
minated ihoi  false  prophet,  and  distinguished  both 
from  the  beast  and  •from  his  image. 

4.  A  commentary  on  the  text  will  furnish  the 
strongest  reasons  for  applying  to  the  secular  power 
this  prophecy. 

/  sarv  a  beast  rise  up  out  of  the  sea.  ©jj^wv  is  a  rvild 
beast,  and  the  symbol  of  tyrannical  and  impious 
powe7\1f  Thie  sea  denotes  multitudes  of  men  in  a 
state  of  tumult  or  disorder.  All  the  four  great 
monarchies  arose,  according  to  Dan.  vii.  2.  from  the 
disorders  of  the  community  of  nations,  agitated  by 
malignant  passions;  and  the  system  of  apostacy  from 
Christianity  is  peculiarly  owing  to  the  same  cause. 

This  impious  and  tyrannical  power  had  seven  heads 
and  ten  horns.     These  seven  heads  have  a  two-fold 

*  See  page  334.        |  See  page  44- 


THE   FIRST   BEAST.  403 

signification.  Cliap.  xvii.  9,  10.  The  seven  heads  art 
seven  mountains,  upon  nhich  the  woman  silleth.  And 
there  arc  seven  kings.  Tliis  phrase  denotes  some 
power,  the  capital  of  wliich  was  located  on  seven 
well-known  hills ;  and  of  course  points  out  the  em- 
pire of  the  city  of  seven  hills,  (urbs  septicollis.) 

Rome  was  built  upon  so  many  distinct  mountain?, 
called  by  her  own  historians,  Palatinus,  Coelius, 
Capitolinus,  Aventinus,  Quirinalis,  Viminalis,  Es- 
quilinus.  The  administration  of  supreme  power 
in  this  commonwealth  passed  under  various  forms; 
and  these  dilferent  forms  are  called  kings,  because 
each  was,  in  its  turn,  supreme.  T7ies€  are  also  de- 
signated by  the  seven  heads.  There  arc  seven  kings: 
Five,  said  the  interpreter,  explaining  the  mystery  of 
the  beast,  arc  fallen,  and  one  is,  and  the  other  is  not 
yet  come.  Five  different  forms  of  government  exist- 
ed over  the  people  of  Rome  before  the  time  of  the 
vision;  the  sixth  one  was  then  in  being;  and  the 
seventh  was  still  future.  The  *'  five  fallen"  are, 
kings,  consuls,  dictators,  decemvirs,  and  miliiary 
tribunes,  with  consular  authority.  The  one  which 
then  existed,  was  the  sixth  head, — tlie  emperors. 
The  other  was  to  succeed  the  emperors,  and  as  yet 
to  come,  when  the  explanation  was  given  by  the  angel 
(chap.  xvii.  7.)  to  John  the  Divine. 

AVe  have  an  account  of  many  controversies  about 
the  occupancy  of  thrones,  and  the  rights  of  kings, 
upon  the  records  of  history ;  and  in  some  instances 
it  is  not  easy  to  determine  among  tlie  claimants,  the 
person  in  whom  is  invested  either  the  title  or  the  ac- 
tual possession.     We  are  not,  therefore,  to  be  sur- 


404  'MHE  TWO  BEASTS. 

prised  at  the  fact,  that  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  seventh  head  of  the  Roman  empire.  In  such 
cases  prejudices  and  wishes  always  have  some  influ- 
ence in  forming  our  decisions  ;  and  it  is,  perhaps,  as 
difficult  now  to  examine  the  subject  impartially,  as 
if  the  question  were  to  be  in  fact  agitated  through- 
out the  Christian  world,  who  shall  at  this  day  be  ele- 
vated to  the  imperial  throne,  and  be  universally  re- 
cognized among  the  nations  as  the  successor  of  the 
Caesars. 

I  approach,  brethren,  this  subject  with  confidence, 
because  I  have  cautiously  examined  the  claims  of  the 
several  candidates ;  and  I  am  not  sensible  of  any 
respect  for  any  one  of  them  more  than  for  another. 
The  decision  will  not  affect  their  power  or  their 
rank  among  their  competitors.  It  only  determines 
to  which  of  them  the  word  of  God  assigns  the  pre- 
eminence in  hestiality. 

We  are  endeavouring  to  ascertain  the  seventh  head 
of  the  heast  of  the  sea  ;  and  as  it  was  in  possession  of 
ten  horns  which  were  crowned,  we  must  look  out  for 
the  head  of  the  empire  at  .some  time  subsequent  to 
its  dismemberment  by  the  northern  barbarians.  By 
this  consideration  we  effectually  exclude  all  the 
heads  of  the  empire  previous  to  the  fall  of  Augustu- 
lus  under  the  power  of  Odoacer  in  the  year  four 
"hundred  and  se.venty-five. 

We  have  already  set  aside  the  claims  of  the  pa- 
paci/y  although  supported  by  the  general  voice  of  the 
protestant  commentators. 

•The  power  of  the  pope  as  a  temporal  prince,  was 
never  of  any  importance  among  the  kingdoms  of  the 


THE    FIRST   BEAST.  405 

empire.*  As  a  spirilual  power ^  he  was  indeed  very 
great;  and  it  was  in  this  capacity  alone  that  he 
claimed  the  supremacy  over  church  and  state :  but  it 
is  the  secular  head  of  the  empire  that  we  are  now  en- 
deavouring to  ascertain.  The  spiritual  empire  being 
the  little  horn  springing  up  among  the  secular  ten, 
cannot  be  identitied  with  the  beast,-  or  the  seventh 
head :  and,  described  in  this  chapter  as  another  beast, 
we  exclude  him  entirely  from  the  headship  of  the 
first  beast. 

We  must  look  for  the  seventh  head  of  the  vyestern 
empire  among  the  great  powers  of  Europe.  Let  us 
avail  ourselves  of  the  light  of  revelation  in  our  exa- 
mination of  Roman  history. 

Of  the  seventh  head  the  angel  said  to  John  the  Di- 
vine, at  the  time  referred  to  in  tliis  vision,  when  the 
sixths  or  imperial  head,  was  still  in  existence.  Chap. 
xvii.  10.  the  other  is  not ^et  come;  and  when  hecometk 
he  must  continue  a  short  space.  The  seventh  form  of 
government  is,  according  to  this  text,  to  be  of  com- 
paratively short  duration. 

It  must  be  recollected,  that  however  inadmissible 
it  be  to  represent  a  horn^  as  such,  the  same  with  the 
beast  itself y  because  it  is  only  a  partial  power  in  a 
certain  district  of  the  empire,  yet  each  head  is  neces- 
sarily identified  with  the  beast,  because  it  is  the  form 
of  government  over  the  whole  empire.  When  the 
beast  is  mentioned,  it  includes  head  and  horns;  when 


*  The  fact  of  his  governing  in  ihe  capital  ciiy ,  does  not  make  him 
Ucadoi  the  empire.  Compared  with  other  powers  he  was  no  more 
than  the  mayor  of  a  cily,  or  the  Jieutenant  of  a  province. 


406  THE    two    BEASTS. 

head  Is  mentioned,  if  includes  also  the  horns:  hut  not 
so  when  a  horn  only  is  mentioned. 

Concerning  the  beast  under  the  seventh  form  or 
head,  it  is  intimated  in  verse  11,  that  doubts  should 
be  entertained  whether  he  was  or  is  not.  His  exist' 
ence  is  not  so  obvious  under  this  form  as  it  formerly 
had  been.  It  nievertheless  is  in  reality.  His  real 
existence,  though  not  so  evident  as  to  preclude  all 
doubts  about  the  fact,  and  all  difficulty  in  identify- 
ing him,  is  a  part  of  his  character  which  is  often  re- 
peated. 

Chap.  xvii.  8,  1 1 .  The  beast  that  thou  sarvest  was, 
AND  IS  NOT,  and  shall  ascend  out  of  the  bottomless 
pit,  and  they  that  dwell  on  the  earth  shall  wonder  when 
they  behold  the  beast  that  was,  and  is  not,  and  yet 
IS,  even  he  is  the  eighth,  and  is  of  the  seven,  and  goeth 
into  perdition. 

He  was,  and  is  not,  and  yet  is,  appears  to  be  a  con- 
tradiction. Such  a  mode  of  speech,  is,  however,  not 
uncommon  in  scripture.  The  Christian  speaks  of 
himself,  as  the  text  speaks  of  antichristian  power. 
/  am  crucified — nevertheless  I  live,  yet  not  I.  The 
apostle  Paul  speaks  not  in  this  case  of  natural  life ; 
for  if  he  did,  it  would  be  a  contradiction :  natural 
life  and  death,  could  not  be  predicated  of  him  at  one 
and  the  same  time.  He  speaks  of  a  life  to  sin,  which 
is  crucified,  and  of  a  life  to  godliness,  which  he  leads 
not  of  himself,  but  by  the  power  of  God.  This  idea 
resolves  the  problem. 

The  Apocalyptical  beast  is  the  arbitrary  and  im- 
pious power  of  the  Roman  empire.  The  existence  of 
power  is  obvious  to  all.    Its  unity  of  character  is  not  so 


THE   FIRST  BEAST.  407 

evident.  Let  us  paraphrase  the  words,  and  the  obscu- 
rity is  dispelled.  The  hcasl  was,  and  is  not,  and  yet 
is.  Impious  power  did  extend  over  all  the  empire, 
there  is  not  now  any  one  supreme  power  actually 
ruling  the  whole  empire,  and  yet  there  are  impious 
powers  over  all  tlie  nations  of  the  empire,  connected 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  them  still  one  great 
family.  This  is  the  plain  matter  of  fact.  It  per- 
fectly corresponds  with  the  text,  and  with  the  histo- 
ry; and  we  take  it  therefore  to  be  the  true  interpre- 
tation of  the  prophecy.  He  unto  whom  the  college 
of  civilized  nations  have  given  the  precedency  among 
the  several  powers,  is  the  head;  and  the  governments 
of  the  several  distinct  nations  are  the  horns  of  the 
beast.  The  whole  civil  power  of  the  empire  is  the 
beast  with  ten  horns. 

The  wounding,  spoken  of  chap.  xiii.  3.  has  been 
improperly  confounded  with  this  apparent  non-exist- 
ence of  the  seventh  and  last  head — the  septimo- 
octave. 

The  beast  was  wounded;  but  not  killed.  The 
wound,  though  deadly,  if  no  relief  had  been  adminis- 
tered, did  in  fact  admit  of  a  cure.  It  was  healed.  It 
is  the Jirsi  beast  whose  deadly  wound  was  healed;  and 
the  wound  had  been  received  in  the  sixth  head. 

Mr.  Faber  alleges  that  this  was  given,  not  to  the 
power,  but  to  the  character  of  the  head  of  the  empire. 
That  it  was  inflicted  by  Constantine  the  Great  by 
the  establishment  of  Christianity  over  Paganism; 
and  that  the  Roman  empire  under  Christian  admi- 
nistration ceased  to  be  a  beast. 

This  interpretation  of  the  wound  is  every  way  ei^ 
roneous.     1.  It  contradicts  Daniel's  prophecy,  which 


408  THE   TWO   BEA&TS. 

represents  the  fourth  beast  ds  continuing,  without  in- 
termission, from  his  rise  to  the  millennium.  The 
prophet  would  have  given  notice,  had  there  been  an 
intermission  of  three  or  four  hundred  years :  But  un- 
der all  its  changes,  the  Roman  empire  is  beastly. 

2.  It  violates  the  symbolical  language :  for  the  text 
does  not  say  that  the  beast  was  tamed,  or  destroyed : 
and  a  wound  affects  not  the  nature  of  beast  or  man, 
although  it  may  diminish '5?rcw^/A,  or  put  an  end  to  ex- 
ertion—as  it  were  wounded  to  death. 

3.  It  contradicts  history.  Constantine  the  Great, 
and  his  successors,  were  tyrants,  although  avowedly 
Christian.  In  patronizing  the  hierarchy,  in  new-mo- 
delling, at  their  own  pleasure,  the  order  of  the  church, 
they  usurped  a  spiritual  supremacy  over  the  con- 
science ;  and  if  they  delivered  the  church  irom pagan 
persecution,  their  own  policy  was  still  of  a  persecu- 
ting character  in  relation  to  the  friends  of  primitive 
order  in  the  Christian  commonwealth.  The  beast, 
in  fact,  continued. 

4.  It  is  inconsistent  with  Mr.  Faber  himself  He 
does  not  hesitate  to  denominate  Charlemagne  a 
beastly  power;  but  we  are  utterly  at  a  loss  to 
know  upon  what  principle  of  religion  or  of  morals, 
Constantine  is  so  far  to  have  the  preference  over 
Charles,  as  to  justify  any  Christian  expositor  in  re- 
presenting him  as  slaying  the  beast  which  the  other 
had  revived.  The  latter  we  know  had  a  connexion 
with  the  papacy,  which  the  former  could  not  have ; 
but  we  are  not  now  considering  the  papal  suprema- 


THE    FIRST    BEAST.  409 

t y.  The  secular  empire  is  the  first  beast ;  and  the 
Roman  power  was  as  tyrannical  and  immoral  in  the 
hands  of  the  first  Christian  emperors,  as  it  afterwards 
proved  in  tlie  hands  of  its  great  restorer  in  the  ninth 
century. 

We  therefore  consider  tiie  interpretation  of  bishop 
Newton  as  thus  far  correct.  "  The  sixth  head  was 
wounded  as  it  were  to  death,  when  the  Roman  em- 
pire was  overturned  by  the  northern  nations,  and  an 
end  was  put  to  the  very  name  of  emperor  in  Augus- 
tulus." 

Upon  tlie  throne  of  Constantinople  still  sat  the  re- 
presentative of  the  empire,  although  it  appeared  as 
if  the  imperial  head  of  tiie  fourth  beast  was  utterly 
cut  olT  by  the  sword  of  Odoacer — wounded  hy  the 
sword.  For  a  few  years  the  kings  of  the  Goths  ruled 
over  the  mistress  of  the  nations ;  but  the  ancient 
frame  of  Roman  government  still  remained,*  and 
"  the  Roman  lawyers  and  statesmen  asserted  the  in- 
defeasible dominion  of  the  emperors  of  the  east, 
who  still  aspired  to  deliver  their  reputed  subjects 
from  the  usurpation  of  barbarians  and  heretics."t 
Justinian  the  emperor,  by  the  skill  and  prowess  of 
Belisarius,  and  of  Narses,  succeeded  in  healing  the 
wound  of  the  sixth  or  imperial  head,  by  the  con- 
quest of  Italy,  although  Rome  was  reduced  into  a 
provincial  rank  as  a  tributary  dukedom  subject  to 
the  exarch  of  Ravenna.J 

*  Seepages  13G,  138.         f    Mavor. 

\  It  ought  not  (o  be  objected  to  this  account  of  healing  the  wound 

of  the  sixth  hea«l,  that  the  emperor  had  his  seat  at  Constantinople, 

for  this  would  have  cut  off  the  claims  of  Oonstautine  himself  to  be 

considered  by  historians  as  the  head  of  the  Roman  empire.    It  is 

3  D 


410  IHE   TWO   BEASTS. 

Tlie  great  fourth  beast,  after  his  sixth  head  wa? 
wounded,  as  the  people  of  Europe  thought,  even  unto 
death,  recovered  from  his  wound  ;  and  although  the 
western  empire  was  dismembered,  and  several  inde- 
pendent governments  were  established  in  its  bounds, 
the  throne  of  Constantinople  was  still  recognized  as 
the  superior  among  the  nations  of  the  world. 

The  troubles  of  Europe  rendered  the  population 
of  the  Latin  empire  as  a  stormy  sea;  and  thence  in 
the  year  606  does  the  seven-headed  ten-horned  least:, 
appear  to  John  the  Divine,  rising  up  under  this  sixth 
head,  in  the  person  of  the  brutal  Phocas. 

accurately  remarked  by  Archdeacon  Woodhouse,  that  the  beast  of 
the  xiiith  chapter  is  described  as  a  leopard,  a  hear,  and  a  lion,  in  or- 
der to  show  that  he  had,  at  the  time  of  his  rise  from  the  sea,  pos- 
session of  the  three  first  universal  monarchies,  and  so  far  was  as- 
similated to  the  former  three  beasts  of  Daniel.  In  the  xviith 
chapter  when  the  beast  is  described  as  bearing  the  harlot,  or  apostate 
church  of  Rome,  these  characters  are  omitted.  The  geography,  as 
well  as  the  history,  of  nations,  is  alluded  to  in  the  prophecy. 

The  wounded  head,  in  recovering  the  possession  of  the  ancient 
capital,  on  the  overthrow  of  Totila  the  Goth,  appears  healed  up  to 
its  characteristic  despotism  and  idolatry.  I  give  the  proof  of  my  as- 
sertion in  the  words  of  the  historian  of  the  Decline  and  Fall.*" 

"  The  eunuch  Narses,  was  chosen  to  achieve  the  conquest  which 
had  been  left  imperfect  by  the  tirst  of  the  Roman  generals.  Justi- 
nian granted  to  the  favourite  what  he  might  have  denied  to  the 
hero  :  and  the  preparations  were  not  unworthy  of  the  ancient  ma- 
jesty of  the  empire.  Absolute  in  the  exercise  of  his  authority, 
more  absolute  in  the  affection  of  his  troops,  Narses  led  a  numerous 
and  gallant  army  to  Salona,  from  whence  he  coasted  the  Adriatic 
as  far  as  the  confines  of  Italy. 

As  soon  as  Narses  had  paid  his  devotions  to  the  author  of  victory, 
and  the  blessed  virgin,  his  pecidiar  patroness,  he  dismissed  the  Lom- 
bards— The  inspiration  of  the  virgin  revealed  to  him  the  day  and 
the  word  of  battle — Justinian,  in  the  year  552,  once  more  recei\ 

*  Vol.  V.  page  272-285. 


THE   FIRST    BEAST.  411 

At  this  iim€y^  the  seventh  head  was  not  yet  come^  and 
when  come,  it  must  continue  a  short  space.  This 
consideration  excludes  tlie  exarchate  of  Ravenna 
from  bchig  the  head  of  the  beast.  History  precludes 
the  idea,  that  such  delegated  power  should  be  called 
the  liead  of  the  empire.  I'he  exarchate  was  no 
more  than  a  lieutenancy.  Such  is  the  declaration  of 
the  historian.  "  After  a  reign  of  sixty  years,  the 
thi;one  of  the  Gothic  kings  was  filled  by  the  exarchs 
of  Ravenna,   the  representatives   in   peace  and 

WAR    OF    the    emperor    OF    THE    ROMANS."* 

This  state  of  things  continued  until  the  western  em- 
pire, divided  as  it  was  under  ten  crowned  horns  or  in- 
dependent sovereignties,  was  effectually  united  by 
the  bonds  of  an  apostate  faith;  and  felt  itself  in  condi- 
tion to  resist  the  power  of  Constantinople.  An  occa- 
sion of  trying  its  strength  was  afforded  during  the  reign 
of  Leo  III.  surnamed  the  Iconoclast,  who,  from  the 
mountains  of  Isauria  ascended  the  throne  of  the  east. 

"  Inspired  with  a  hatred  of  images,  this  emperor," 
said  i\Ir.  Gibbon,  "  proscribed  the  existence  as  well 
as  the  use  of  religious  pictures;  the  churches  of 
Constantinople,  and  the  provinces,  were  cleansed  from 

ril  the  fcn/s  of  Rome,  which,  under  his  reign  had  been  five  times 
taken  and  recovered.  The  civil  state  of  Italy  after  the  agitation 
of  a  long  tempest  was  fixed  by  a  pragmatic  sanction  which  the  em- 
peror promulgated  at  the  request  of  tlu  pope.^'' 

It  was  under  this  sixth  wounded,  hut  now  healed,  head,  in  the 
reign  of  Phocas,  that  John  saw  the  beast  arise. 

*  It  is  astonishing,  that  Commentators  should  so  generally  have 
represented  the  angel,  chap.  xvii.  10.  the  other  is  not  yet  come,  as 
speaking  of  the  time  of  Domitian,  seeing  lie  adds,  verse  11 ;  The 
beast — is  not.     Surely  this  was  not  the  time  of  Domitian. 
i  Hist.  Dec.  Vol.  V.  page  284. 


412  THE   TWO   BEASTS. 

idolatry;  the  images  of  Christ,  the  virgin,  and  tlie 
saints,  were  demolished,  or  a  smooth  surface  of  plas- 
ter was  spread  over  the  walls  of  the  edifice.  With 
the  habit  and  profession  of  monks,  the  public  and 
private  w^orship  of  images  was  rigorously  prohibit- 
ed; and  it  should  seem,  that  a  solemn  abjuration  of 
idolatry  was  exacted  from  the  subjects,  or  at  least 
from  the  clergy  of  the  eastern  empire."  The  pro- 
scriptive  edict  was  extended  to  the  west;  "and  a 
strong  alternative  was  proposed  to  the  Roman  pontiff. 
The  royal  favour,  as  the  price  of  his  compliance,  de- 
gradation, and  exile,  as  the  penalty  of  disobedience.'* 
Animated  by  the  zeal  of  pope  Gregory  II.  in  defence 
of  images,  the  Italians  determined  on  resistance.  The 
emperor,  and  all  the  enemies  of  idols,  were  excom- 
inunicated  by  the  head  of  the  Latin  church;  and  the 
exarch  of  Ravenna  lost  his  life  in  a  popular  sedition. 

The  western  empire,  uniting  in  the  bonds  of 
idolatry,  put  an  end  to  the  sixth  head  ^  and  after- 
wards arose  the  seventh,  which,  according  to  the  pre- 
diction, continued  but  a  short  time,  and  then  merged 
in  the  last  head  of  the  beast,  styled  in  prophecy  the 
eighth,  which  is  of  the  seven,  and  goeth  into  perdition. 

Who,  we  again,  after  these  historical  inductions, 
ask  the  question,  who  is  this  seventh  head  ? 

**  Ravenna  was  subdued;  and  this  final  conquest 
extinguished  the  series  of  the  exarchs  w^ho  had  reign- 
ed with  a  subordinate  power  since  the  time  of  Justi- 
nian and  the  ruin  of  the  Gothic  kingdom." 

Although  the  pope  was  not  himself  a  secular 
power,  his  influence  among  the  nations  of  the  west- 
ern empire  was  immense.  He  sought  out,  and  he 
found,  a  new  head  to  its  dismembered  kingdoms. 


THE    FIR&T   BE  AST.  41J 

Gregory  had  implored  tiie  aid  of  tlie  hero  of  the 
age,  Charles  Martel,  who  governed  llie  French  mo- 
narchy; and  who  by  hi.s  victory  over  the  Saracens, 
liad  saved  Europe  from  the  Mahometan  yoke. 
Cliarles  took  the  Latin  church  under  his  protection, 
espoused  the  cause  of  idolatry,  and,  dignified  with 
the  title  of  patrician,  he  and  his  successors,  Pepin 
and  Charlemagne,  bear  up  the  mother  of  harlots,  and 
reveal  the  beast  of  the  sea,  under  his  seventh  head. 

The  Patriciate  is  the  sevenlh  head  of  the  beast. 
The  words  of  Mr.  Gibbon  are  explicit.  Speaking 
of  these  powerful  leaders,  he  says,  "  They  would 
have  disdained  a  subordinate  qfflee:  but  the  reign  of 
the  Greek  emperors  was  suspended;  and  in  the  va- 
cancy of  the  empire,  the  Roman  ambassadors  pre- 
sented these  Patricians  with  the  keys  of  the  shrine 
of  St.  Peter,  as  a  pledge  and  a  symbol  of  sovereign- 
ty. Except  an  original  and  self-inherent  claim  of 
sovereignty,  there  was  not  any  prerogative  remain- 
ing, which  the  title  of  emperor  could  add  to  the 
pairieian  of  Rome." 

Of  this  head  it  was  said,  Rev.  xvii.  10.  When  he 
eometh,  he  must  continue  ei  short  spaec.  Agreeably  to 
the  prediction,  the  event  fell  out.  The  patriciate 
very  soon  merged  in  a  renovation  of  the  western 
empire.  If  we  date  the  rise  of  this  head  from  the 
days  of  Charles  Martel,  it  will  have  continued  only 
.30  years.  Charlemagne  possessed  the  dignity  during 
2G  years,  and  at  the  termination  of  that  time,  in  the 
year  800,  he  was  crowned  emperor  of  tlie  Roman-, 
and  the  patriciate  was  no  more.* 

*  Of  this  fact  we  have  given  tin;  liistory,  pngc  212—215. 


414  THE   TWO   BEASTS. 

It  is  to  the  Carlovingian  dynasty  the  Apocalypse 
refers  in  chap.  xvii.  11.  as  the  eighth  who  is  of  the 
seven.  This  is  justly  denominated  the  septimo-odave 
head.  And  it  is  the  character  of  the  beast,  and  by  no 
means,  an  allusion  to  the  wound  of  the  sixth  head, 
which  never  did  prove  mortal,  or  destroy  the  exist- 
ence of  the  beast,  although  without  a  cure  it  was 
in  its  nature  mortal,  that  these  words  declare — the 
beast  that  was,  and  is  not,  and  yet  is.  Before  the  di- 
vision of  the  Latin  empire,  the  beast  was  one  great 
sovereignty,  or  consolidated  empire,  under  one 
dcispot,  since  that  period,  and  during  the  whole  of 
the  antichristian  1260  years,  he  is  not  in  this  respect, 
but  yet  the  whole  western  empire  with  all  its  di- 
visions is  beastly,  and  so  united  as  notwithstanding 
its  distinct  sovereignties,  to  be  considered  one  family, 
recognizing  some  particular  power  as  entitled  to 
the  precedency.  The  beast  of  the  sea  of  course 
includes  all  the  nations  of  the  symbolical  earth. 
The  ten  horns  are  ten  kingdoms,  which  receive  power 
cotemporaneously  with  the  heast.  Chap.  xvii.  18.  l^hese 
ham  one  mind,  and  shall  give  their  power  and  strength 
rmto  the  beast! 

The  historian  Machiavel,  reckons  the  ten  primary 
kingdoms  into  which  the  Roman  empire  was  divided 
as  follows:  1.  The  Ostrogoths  in  Mesia  j  2.  The  Vi- 
sigoths in  Pannonia;  3.  The  Sueves  and  Alans  in 
Gascoigne  and  Spain;  4.  The  Vandals  in  Africa; 
5.  The  Franks  in  France ;  6.  The  Burgundians  in 
Burgundy ;  7.  The  Heruli  in  Italy  ;  8.  The  Saxons 
and  Angles  in  Britain;  9.  The  Huns  in  Hungary; 
and,  10,  The  Lombards  on  the  Danube. 


THE   FIRST   BEAST.  415 

It  is  objected  to  this  arrangement,  that  some  of 
these  kingdoms  had  become  extinct  before  the  preva- 
lence of  the  apostacy  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and 
thattlie  ten  horns  ought  to  be  looked  for  among  those 
countries  which  had  then  given  their  support  to  the 
papacy.     These  objections  have  some  force. 

However  great  the  authority  of  Machiavel,  and  the 
several  expositors  who  have  adopted  his  arrangement, 
I  had  rather  leave  out  the  African  Vandals,  and  em- 
brace the  German  AUemani.  I  express  this  opinion 
both  upon  geographical  and  other  principles.  In  the 
body  of  the  Latin  empire  we  ought  to  look  for  the 
horns:  they  should  be  found  too  at  the  time  of  the  apos- 
tacy: they  should  not  be  in  the  government  of  a  terri- 
tory which  has  not  generally  been  connected  with  the 
antichristian  earth  during  the  1260  years:  but  it  is  not 
necessary  that  every  one  of  these  governments,  which 
are  considered  as  horns,  should  actually  profess  at 
all  times  the  popish  faith. 

The  empire  itself  was  never  very  accurately  de- 
fined within  certain  geographical  boundaries;  and 
no  nation  of  modern  times  remains  unalterably  the 
same  as  to  territory :  but  yet,  the  national  identity 
is  not  considered  as  destroyed,  whensoever  a  govern- 
ment either  cedes  or  acquires  a  city  or  a  province. 

It  is  not  said  that  they  are  the  horns  of  the  second 
beast ;  but  of  the  first.  They  belong  to  the  secular 
empire  :  they  give  their  power  to  the  first  beast :  and 
while  they  afford  support  to  the  great  antichristian 
policy  of  Europe  ;  while  they  are  themselves  tyran- 
nical and  immoral,  those  powers  which  exist  in  the 
symbolical  earth,  whatever  may  be  their  speculative 


416 


THE    TWO    BEASTJ5. 


opinions,  and  their  professions  in  regard  to  the  creed 
of  the  Roman  Catholics,  are  entitled  to  be  consider- 
ed as  horns  of  the  secular  beast. 

They  were  originally,  it  appears,  ten  in  number ; 
and  they  have  almost  uniformly  kept  up  the  same 
number.  Perfect  precision  is  not  necessary  in  so 
long  a  period  of  time  for  so  very  general  a  history. 
The  changes  of  nearly  1500  years  since  the  dis- 
memberment of  the  Roman  empire,  will  have  shown 
sufficiently  that  the  number  of  the  distinct  powers 
have  generally  been  nearer  ten  than  to  any  other. 

I  now  exhibit  at  one  view, 

THE  BEAST  WITH  SEVEN  HEADS  AND  TEN  HORNS. 


The     seven     heads. 

The    Western,  or 

The  original  ten  horns 

hills,  or  forms  of  go- 

Latin Roman  em- 

or kingdoms. 

vernment. 

pire. 

The  7  hills. 

Extends    from 

1.  The  Heruli,   •\    ^ 

1.  The  Palatine, 

the    Mediterrane- 

2. The    Ostro-  1    ^ 

2.  Capitoline, 

an  to  the  Vistula, 

goths,              /    £ 

3.  Quirinal, 

and  from 

3.  Lombards,      ^   *1^ 

4.  Coelian, 

the  Atlantic  Ocean 

4.  Visigoths,  Pannonia. 

5.  vEsquiliae, 

and  German  Sea, 

5.  Sueves    and  Alans, 

6.  Viralnal, 

to  the  boundaries 

Spain. 

7.  Aventine, 

of  the  Greek 

6.  Franks,  France. 

The  1  forms  of  gov't. 

empire. 

7.  Burgundians,   Bur- 

1. Kings, 

gundy. 

2.  Consuls, 

8.  Saxons  and  Angles. 

3.  Dictators, 

Britain. 

4.  Decemvirs, 

9.  Huns,  Hungary. 

5.  Military  Tribunes, 

10.  Allemaui,  Ger- 

6. Emperors, 

many. 

7.  Patricians,  becom- 

i.ig  as  the 

7,  or  8.  Emperors. 

i 

THE   FIRST   BEAST.  417 

Tlie  tyrannK?al  persecuting  power  of  the  Roman 
empire,  had  under  every  form,  incurred  the  guilt  of 
blasphemy.  Verse  1.  Andvponhis  heads  the  name 
of  blasphemy, 

Tlie  lion,  the  heaVy  and  the  leopard^  were  the  wild 
beasts  most  formidable  to  the  ancients  ;*  and  in  the 
vision  of  Daniel,  they  represented  the  three  univer- 
sal monarchies  which  preceded  the  Roman,  viz.  the 
Lion,  the  Chaldean;  the  Bear,  the  Medo-Persian ; 
the  Leopard,  the  Grecian,  under  Alexander  the 
Great  and  his  successoi*s.t  In  that  vision,  the  repre- 
sentative of  Roman  greatness  was  a  non-descript. 
In  this  vision,  he  is  a  monster,  in  general  form  re- 
sembling the  leopard,  having  the  mouth  of  the  lion, 
and  the  paw  of  the  bear — swift  in  its  conquests  like 
the  Leopard,  son  of  Philip ;  treading  down  the  na- 
tions like  the  Persian  bear;  and  like  the  royal  lion 
of  Assyria  and  Chaldea,  roaring  aloud,  and  devour- 
ing  its  prey. 

To  this  description  is  added  an  account  of  the 
source  of  that  power  which  the  beast  wielded  over 
the  empire  by  his  head  and  horns — Verse  2.  the 
dragon  gave  him  his  power,  and  his  seat,  and  great 
authority. 

We  have  already  shown,t  that  the  dragon  is  the 
devil,  and  the  civil  power  of  Rome,  the  agent  by 
which  he  works.  It  was  foreseen  by  the  authoi'  of 
prophecy,  that  the  tyrannies  of  the  nations  would 
have,  even  among  Christians,  their  apologists.  Ec- 
clesiastical history  shows  that  tliis  is  the  fact.     There 

•  Hos.  xiii.  7,  8. 
t  Dan.  vii.  3— b.        |  Page  3jO. 

3  E 


418  THE   TWO    BEASTS. 

never  was  a  man  in  power  so  vile,  as  not  to  find  a 
flatterer :  no  constitution  of  civil  government,  how- 
ever antichristian,  has  been  without  its  defenders: 
every  head,  every  horn  of  the  beast,  since  the  time 
of  Constantine,  until  the  establishment  of  Napoleon 
the  emperor  and  king  of  France  and  Italy,  have 
found  out  among  the  churches,  men  who  prostitute 
the  word  of  truth  to  prove  that  the  beast  himself, 
and  every  such  head  and  horn,  is  the  vicegerent  of 
God* 

One  plain  text  puts  down  all  such  claims  of  divine 
right,  for  any  of  the  heads  or  horns  of  the  beast. 
The  dragon  gave  him  his  power,  and  his  seat,  and  great 
authority. 

*  Plain  Christians  are  deceived  by  a  trite  sophism;  and  they  are 
the  more  easily  deceived,  because  the  deception  is  generally  conve- 
nient to  their  worldly  circumstances.  The  sophism  is  this.  "  There 
is  no  power  but  of  God,  therefore  this  power  is  from  heaven ;  and 
to  it  you  must  submit  as  unto  the  ordinance  of  God."  This  argu- 
ment will  suit  every  case;  and  it  has  been  universally  resorted  to 
by  the  friends  of  passive  obedience.  It  has  always  been  the  re- 
fuge of  those  who  plead  the  divine  right  of  kings,  and  popes,  and 
emperors,  over  their  unhappy  subjects.  It  applies  alike  to  all  power 
good  or  bad.  It  avails  Beelzebub  the  prince,  as  well  as  any  of  his 
servants  or  instruments.  "  Satan  is  powerful ;  there  is  no  power 
but  of  God ;  therefore  it  is  wrong  to  resist  the  adversary."" 

This  sophism  is  of  easy  solution.  There  are  distinct  kinds  of  pow- 
er:  one  is  authorized oi  God,  and  is  moral;  the  other  is  pcr7nilted oi 
God,  and  is  immoral.  There  are  distinct  kinds  of  obedience.  One 
is  the  result  of  allegiance,  am\  is  voluntary :  the  other  the  conse- 
quence of  force,  and  is  compulsory:  the  captive  marches  to  the 
place  of  confinement  at  the  command  of  the  conqueror ;  but  still 
holds  his  allegiance  to  his  own  country.  A  man  must  shut  his  eyes 
not  to  see  the  distinction. 


THE   FIRST   BEA&T.  4l9 

The  dragon  is  the  devil :  the  fust  boast  is  the  se- 
cular Roman  empire  in  its  divided  slate :  upon  each 
distinct  kingdojn,  and  upon  tliem  all  collectively,  the 
devil  conferred  the  whole  power  they  possess.  Ay- 
v<*/x»',  the  force;  ^^ovov,  the  actual  investiture;  £|8(r»«v, 
the  authority,  or  national  right  to  reign,  are  all  in 
this  verse  said  to  be  from  the  devil,  and  not  from 
God.  The  beast  is  from  God  only  in  the  same  sense 
that  the  dragon  is  from  him.* 

Thus  armed  with  diabolical  power,  the  imperial 
beast  whose  head,  had  been  wounded  in  Augustulus, 
by  the  ravages  of  the  barbarians,  appears  recovered 
from  his  wound  in  the  person  of  .Justinian,  by  the 
victories  of  the  great  Belisarius,  and  the  Eunuch 
JNarses — Averse  3.  And  all  the  world  wondered  after 
the  beast. 

'OA>j  7,-  yyi  is  not,  however,  all  the  world  of  mankind, 
but  the  symbolical  earth — the  western  empire.     Al- 

^  "  The  dominion  exercised  by  tills  beast  (the  Roman  empire) 
is  unjust,  tyrannical,  oppressive,  diabolical.  It  is  not  a  power  le- 
gally administered  for  the  good  of  the  subject;  for  such  "  power  is 
ordained  of  God  :"  but  the  authority  of  the  beast  is  founded  on  ano- 
ther sanction;  on  that  of  the  dragon,  or  Satan.  When  the  legisla- 
tive and  cxcadivc  powers  act  from  the  impulse  of  ivorUUy  and  diaboli- 
cal passions,  this  dire  usurpation  and  tyranny  will  appear  But  it  is 
tlie  work  of  Christianih/,  hy  inlrodncimr  other  motives  of  government^ 
to  repress  these  enormities,  and  finally,  by  the  intervention  of  hca- 
vcnly  aid,  to  extirpate  them."     Woodhousc  in  loco. 

"What  throne  and  seat  can  this  be  else,  that  the  devil  givetk  to 
the  Romans,  but  that  which  he  promiseth  to  give  Christ,  Matt.  iv. 
9.  to  wit,  The  empire  of  the  world,  as  being  the  prince  of  this 
world."  Lord  Napier. 

"  Then  the  dragon  had  transferred  his  dominion  to  the  beast,  or 
the  devil  liad  appointed  another  vicegerent :  and  all  the  world  knows 
that  this  accords  to  the  history  of  the  Roman  empire."     Scott. 


420  THE   TWO    BEAfeTS* 

though  now  erected  into  several  independent  king- 
doms, they  all  acknowledged  the  superiority  of  the 
emperor  of  the  east;  and,  when  Phocas  proclaimed 
Boniface  the  universal  bishop,  the  population  of  the 
Latin  earth  admired  the  deed,  and  wondered  after 
the  beast:  and  they  worshipped  the  dragon  and  the 
beasty  verse  4.  saying,  who  is  like  unto  him,  or  able  to 
make  war  on  him?  The  deluded  subject,  in  doing 
homage  to  the  civil  power,  did  homage  to  Satan 
from  whom  it  emanated;  and  while  held  in  the 
chains  of  a  despotic  superstition,  admired  the  glory 
of  the  oppressor.  Slavery  degrades  poor  deluded 
man. 

Verse  5.  Inhere  was  given  unto  him  a  mouth  speak- 
ing great  thing s,  and  blasphemies ;  and  power  was 
given  to  him  to  continne  forty  and  two  months. 

Of  the  blasphemies  of  emperors  and  kings,  we 
shall  afterwards  speak.  It  is  necessary  here,  how- 
ever, to  remark,  that  it  is  not  the  duration  of  the  se- 
cular powers  of  Europe  that  is  limited  in  this  place, 
to  the  well-known  period  of  42  months,  or  1260 
days,  of  prophetic  calculation.  The  word  Ttoincxi 
v.hich  our  translators  render  in  this  instance  to  con- 
tinue, signifies  to  performy  or  to  practise,  and  TroAg^ov 
:ro<>)cra<,  repeatedly  employed  in  this  connexion,  is  to 
make  war. 

The  secular  power  as  permitted  in  the  providence 
of  God,  is  influenced  by  the  hierarchy,  and  empower- 
ed by  Satan  to  wage  war  against  religion  and  the 
saints  for  1260  years.  This  period  settles  the  chro- 
nology of  this  vision. 
*  Rev.  xi.  7.  and  xii.  ]  7.  and  xiii.  7.  ts;;^^??  vemTxt  ^ifet  t(vv 


THE   FIRST   BEAST.  421 

The  succeeding  verses,  from  the  sixth  to  the  ch- 
venth,  amplifies  this  idea  of  the  beast.  They  show 
the  greatness  of  his  blasphemy  against  God,  his  or- 
dinances, and  his  people;  his  success  in  persecuting 
the  saints,  and  the  extent  of  his  despotic  power;  the 
homage  and  allegiance  which  he  receives  from  the 
people  of  Christendom,  with  the  exception  of  those 
taithful  men  whose  names  are  in  the  Lamb's  book  of 
life ;  and  announce  finally  the  terrible  retribution, 
which  after  the  faith  and  patience  of  the  saints  has 
for  1260  years  been  tried,  will  cut  off  by  the  sword 
those  nations  which  have  employed  the  sword  in  an 
unrighteous  cause.* 

'^  A  million  of  the  Waldenses  perished  in  France :  nine  hundred 
thousand  of  the  orthodox  suffered  in  thirty  years  after  the  institution 
of  the  Jesuits :  the  duke  of  Alva  hoasted  of  having  put  thirty-six 
thousand  to  death  in  the  Netherlands  by  the  hands  of  the  common 
executioner.  In  thirty  years  the  inquisition  destroyed  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand. 

In  France,  in  fifty  years,  from  1530  to  1580,  a  million  of  pro- 
testants  lost  their  lives;  Charles  the  IXth,  glorying  in  his  let- 
ters to  the  Pope  that  he  had  massacred  seventy  thousand  in  a  few 
days.  At  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz,  by  Lewis  XlVlh, 
it  is  computed  that  one  hundred  thousand  were  murdered,  and  one 
million  banished  from  their  country. 

Before  the  states  of  Holland  established  their  independence,  there 
were  murdered  in  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  about  fifty  thousand, 
in  the  succeeding  fifteen  years  about  one  hundred  thousand,  and 
more  than  half  a  million  fled  their  country.  How  many  more  must 
have  fallen  in  the  war  for  religion  and  liberty  which  they  waged, 
with  some  intermissions,  almost  for  eighty  years. 

Besides  those  who  were  put  to  death  in  the  early  persecutions  of 
Scotland,  Charles  II.  and  James  II.  involved  the  protestant  throne 
of  England  in  the  blood  of  the  martyrs,  and  attempted  to  restore 
the  nation  to  the  communion  of  the  Roman  Catholics. 


422  THE   TWO   BEASTS. 

Another  agent,  the  second  beast,  is  also  inti;p- 
duced  in  the  vision.  To  him  let  us  now  turn  your 
attention.* 

II.  The  two-horned  least  of  the  earth. 

The  description  given  of  this  second  tyrannical 
and  impious  power  in  the  latter  part  of  the  chapter, 
is  quite  minute  and  appropriate.  Before  we  pro- 
ceed to  an  examination  of  it,  we  shall  put  you  in 
mind  of  this  fact,  that  the  second  beast  is  perfectly 
distinct  from  the  first,  cotemporaneous  with  him,  and 
his  distinguished  coadjutor  in  opposing  righteousness 
on  the  earth.  This  fact  appears  upon  reading  the 
testimony  before  us,  verse  11 — 18:  and  it  immedi- 
ately suggests  the  propriety  of  referring  to  those 
parallel  passages  of  the  Apocalypse,  which  speak 
of  the  great  accomplice  of  the  ten-horned  beast. 
From  such  a  review  we  derive  the  idea  of  the  two- 
horned  beast  of  the  Apocalypse,   which  together 

AboHt  two  thousand  of  the  most  eminent  ministers  in  England, 
and  three  hundred  of  the  most  faithful  in  Scotland,  were  driven 
from  their  charges,  and  tortured  or  murdered.  Two  hundred  thou- 
sand families  were  reduced  to  poverty;  and  above  sixty  thousand 
in  England,  and  eighteen  thousand  in  Scotland,  suffered  either  ba- 
nishment or  death.  Brorvn^s  Church  History, 

A  calculation  of  the  sufferings  inflicted  by  the  secular  beast  upon 
the  saints  over  all  the  nations  of  Christendom,  would  astonish  the 
world.  Probably  not  less  than  fifteen  millions  of  men  have  lost 
their  lives  for  their  attachment  to  the  truth,  and  their  opposition  io 
heresy,  since  the  rise  of  Antichrist.  Were  all  the  saints  in  Chris- 
tendom to  be  slain  on  the  present  day,  it  would  not  equal  the  num- 
ber of  the  martyrs  against  the  man  of  sin,  who  have  already 
sealed  their  testimony  with  their  blood. 


THE   SECONt)   BEAST.  423 

with  the  proof  of  its  correctness,  we  now  lay  before 
you. 

The  second  beast  is  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy. 

1.  In  chap.  xi.  "  The  little  book"  describes  a 
heathenized  church  in  league  with  the  beast  of  the 
abyss,  in  persecuting  the  witnesses:  that  persecution 
is  cotemporaneous  with  the  ivar  upon  the  saintSy  de- 
scribed in  this  ciiapter ;  for  it  is  carried  on*  in  the 
same  1260  years  of  the  apostacy.  It  follows,  that 
as  the  beast  is  the  same  in  both  cases,  the  great  ac- 
complice is  also  the  same.  The  two-horned  beast  is 
accordingly  the  church  heathenized,  under  her  hie- 
rarchy. Should  it  be  objected  to  this  argument, 
that  a  beast,  or  horn,  is  the  symbol  of  secular,  not 
ecclesiastical  power,  the  reply  is  at  hand.  When 
ecclesiastical  power  becomes  tyrannical,  it  is  mo- 
delled upon  the  plan  of  heathen  power,  and  may 
justly  be  represented  by  the  same  symbol.  Our 
Lord,  in  order  to  destroy  in  its  commencement,  all 
exercise  of  ecclesiastical  ambition,  says  to  his  dis- 
ciples, Matt.  XX.  25.  The  princes  of  the  Gentiles 
exercise  dominion  over  them:  but  it  shall  not  be  so 
among  you.  AVhensoever,  in  despite  of  this  prohi- 
bition, an  ecclesiastical  body  assumes  heathen  power, 
it  becomes  beastly,  and  although  it  appear  like  a 
lamb,  its  decisions  are  as  the  voice  of  the  dragon 

2.  In  the  xviith  chapter,  the  scarlet  beast  with  the 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns  is  represented  bearing  up 
the  mother  of  harlots,  drunken  with  the  blood  of  the 


424  THE   TWO   BEASTS. 

martyrs.  By  this  chapter  it  is  perfectly  obvious, 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  that  great  city 
which  reigneth  over  the  kings  of  the  earth,  is  the 
coadjutor  of  the  secular  beast,  and  corresponds  of 
course,  with  the  second  beast  of  the  xiiith  chapter. 
The  Roman  hierarchy  is  therefore  the  heast  having 
two  horns  like  a  lawb,  and  which  spake  as  a  dragon. 

3.  In  the  xviiith  chapter,  the  ten-horned  beast, 
with  the  kings  of  the  symbolical  earth  and  their  ar- 
mies, verse  19,  makes  war  upon  the  King  of  kings, 
and  his  army.  And  when  the  victory  was  decided, 
and  the  beast  taken  captive,  there  appears  in  his 
company  that  distinguished  accomplice  in  crime, 
who  now  shares  in  his  punishment.  Verse  20.  And 
the  heast  was  taken^  and  with  him  the  false  prophet 
that  wrought  miracles  before  him,  with  which  he  de- 
ceived them  that  had  the  mark  of  the  heast,  and  them 
that  worshipped  his  image.  These  both  were  cast 
alive  into  a  lake  of  fire  burning  with  brimstone.  Com- 
pare these  words  with  chap.  xiii.  13,  14.  and  you 
will  immediately  perceive  that  the  work  of  ihe  false 
prophet  is  the  same  with  that  of  the  two-horned  beast. 
The  false  prophet  represents  an  apostate  and  treach- 
erous clergy,  the  antichristian  priesthood,  and  so  of 
course  nmst  the  second  beast. 

4.  In  the  viith  chapter  of  Daniel,  the  fourth  beast, 
tbe  symbol  of  the  Roman  empire,  appears  with  his 
ten  horns.  But  a  distinct  power  also  rises  up  among 
the  ten  horns ;  and,  before  this  new  power,  three  of 
the  horns  were  destroyed.  It  is  called,  verse  8, 
another  little  horny  distinguishing  it  from  the  secular 


THE    SECOXD    BEAST.  42./ 

kincrdoms  of  the  Latin  empire.  And  behold,  in  ihl.'i 
horn  nrrc  ci/es  like  the  ei/cs  of  a  man,  and  a  mouth, 
speaking  great  Ihini^s:  verse  20.  Whose,  look  was  more 
stout  than  his  fellows.  21.  The  same  horn  made  war 
with  the  saints,  and  prevailed  against  than.  23.  And 
he  shall  speak  great  words  against  the  Most  High^ 
and  shall  wear  out  the  saints  of  the  3Iost  High,  and 
think  to  change  times  and  laws:  and  they  shall  be 
given  into  his  hand,  until  a  time,  and  times,  and  the  di- 
viding of  time. 

The  expression  of  the  prophet,  iimcy  times,  and  the 
dividing  of  time,  three  years  and  a  half,  being  the 
same  period  witli  the  42  months,  or  1260  symbolical 
days,  determines  the  chronology  of  this  singular 
power,  distinct  from  the  secular  or  ten-horned  beast. 
The  words.  The  saints  of  the  Most  High  shall  be 
given  into  his  hand,  point  out  the  decree  of  the  em- 
peror Phocas,  subjecting  the  Christian  church  to  the 
domination  of  Roman  ambition,  in  the  year  606, 
and  so  determine  the  commencement  of  the  1260 
years.  The  rising  up  of  this  horn,  among  the  seve- 
ral kingdoms  of  the  dismembered  Roman  empire, 
distinct  from  them  all,  determines  the  application  of 
the  symbol  to  that  ecclesiastical  usurpation  which 
was  established  in  the  ancient  seat  of  empire,  after 
the  erection  of  these  several  kingdoms.  The  over- 
throw of  three  horns  or  kingdoms  in  the  presence  of 
this  new  power,  in  order  to  prepare  the  way  for  its 
further  exaltation,  as  it  is  a  part  of  the  prediction, 
has  become  a  matter  of  history.  The  spirit  of  am- 
bition, natural  to  depraved  man,  and  peculiarly  rest- 
less in  ecclesiastical  men,  who  are  not  sanctified  bv 
3  F 


426  THE    TWO    BEASTS. 

divine  grace,  had  found  in  the  city  of  Rome  the 
means  of  nourishment  and  growth. 

The  pretentions  of  diocesan  episcopacy,  always 
extravagant,  were  cherished  by  the  first  Christian 
emperors,  who  in  fact  established  an  ecclesiastical 
empire  upon  the  model  of  the  secular,  reserving 
to  themselves  the  right  of  supremacy.  The  bishop 
of  Rome  soon  claimed  the  pre-eminence  among  the 
clergy,  but  found  a  formidable  rival  in  the  bishop 
of  Constantinople.  Over  the  western  churches  he 
had  exercised  a  species  of  supremacy,  however, 
long  before  the  above-mentioned  decree  was  passed, 
which  put  the  sairiis  under  his  power,  and  from 
which  of  course  must  be  dated  the  1260  years  of  his 
reign  over  them.  The  saints  indeed  never  acknow- 
ledged him :  force  alone  put  them  under  his  hand.  It 
is  not  his  own  claims,  nor  the  admission  of  others, 
but  the  edict  of  the  emperor,  that  gave  him  power 
over  the  faithful  followers  of  the  Redeemer.  And 
yet,  though  this  edict,  from  which  we  date  the  time, 
was  passed  in  the  year  606,  it  was  not  until  the 
tenth  century  that  the  papal  power  had  reached 
its  highest  point  of  elevation.  Until  that  period, 
Ihis  little  horn  was  always  rising  up  among  the  horns 
of  the  nations. 

In  the  first  stages  of  its  progress,  and  before  it 
could  obtain  the  ample  revenue  and  the  political 
influence  which  the  possession  of  the  ecclesiastical 
states  of  Italy  carried  along  with  it,  the  three  king- 
doms, which  had  been  previously  established  in  that 
territory,  were  overthrown.  1.  The  kingdom  of  the 
Heruli;  2.  The  kingdom  of  the  Ostrogoths  ;  3.  The 


THE    SECOND    BEAST.  427 

kingdom  of  the  Lombards;  these  three  horns  were 
•plucked  up  by  the  roots,  and  upon  tlieir  disappear- 
ance, the  little  horn,  or  the  power  of  the  head  of  the 
Latin  churches,  became  conspicuous. 

This  little  horn,  distinct  from  the  ten-horned  beast, 
but  acting  as  his  coadjutor  in  opposing  the  interests 
of  true  religion,  occupies  precisely  the  place  in  the 
prophecies  of  Daniel,  which  is  assigned  to  the  two- 
horned  beast,  and  to  the  false  prophet,  and  to  the 
lieathen  and  harlot  church,  in  the  Apocalyptical 
predictions. 

From  its  sameness  with  the  little  horn,  we  argue 
that  the  second  beast  is  the  symbol  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical empire,  with  the  Roman  pontiff  at  its  head. 
The  description  given  in  our  text,  perfectly  accord- 
ing with  this  application,  will  furnish  additional 
proof  of  its  correctness. 

Verse  11.  And  I  beheld  another  beast  coming  vp 
out  of  the  earth,  and  he  had  two  horns  like  a  lamb,  and 
he  spake  as  a  dragon. 

The  earth  is  the  western  empire :  and  a  beast  is 
the  symbol  of  a  universal,  tyrannical,  and  immoral 
power.  This  beast  is,  of  course,  an  ecclesiastical 
empire,  distinct  fiom  the  civil,  and  within  the  same 
bounds.  The  papists  themselves,  in  claiming  the 
title,  Foman  Catholic,  proclaim  their  church  to  be 
this  very  beast — a  universal  empire,  distinct  from 
the  secular,  and  occupying  the  same  ground. 

Horns  are  distinct  powers.  The  two  horns  of  this 
beast  are  like  those  of  a  lamb,  professing  to  be 
Christian,  having  a  show  of  spirituality,  and  claim- 
ing authority  under  Messiah,  as  his  ordinance.     The 


428  THE   TWO    BEASTS. 

beast,  indeed,  professes  to  be  a  lamb;  but  is  in 
reality  a  wild  beast,  S^)?^*ov,  that  instead  of  preaching 
the  gospel,  and  speaking  comfortably  to  Jerusalem, 
vspeaks  great  swelling  w^ords  of  blasphemy  and  cru- 
elty, like  the  dragon.  The  doctrine  of  the  church 
of  Rome  is  diabolical. 

The  power  of  the  hierarchy  is  twofold.  There 
were  two  horns  like  a  lamb — two  distinct  and  regular- 
\y  organized  ecclesiastical  powers.  These  are  the 
two  distinct  bodies  of  ecclesiastics,  called  the  regular 
and  secular  clergy.  1.  The  regular,  comprehend- 
ing all  the  monastic  orders.  2.  The  secular,  com- 
prehending all  the  parochial  clergy. 

These  two  bodies  were  perfectly  distinct  from 
each  other,  having  each  its  own  officers  and  regula- 
tions. 

Verse  1 2.  He  exerciseth  all  the  power  of  the  first 
beast  before  him.  "  With  his  prelates  and  his  monks, 
he  directs  the  administration  of  civil  power.  The 
names  of  Wolsey,  Ximenes,  Richlieu,  and  Ma- 
zarine, are  handed  down  to  posterity  as  the  most 
intriguing  and  ambitious  of  statesmen."*  "  He 
holdeth  imperium  in  imperio,  an  empire  within  an 
empire ;  hath  not  only  the  principal  direction  of  the 
temporal  powers,  but  often  engageth  them  in  his 
service,  and  enforceth  his  canons  and  decrees  with 
the  sword  of  the  civil  magistrate."! 

He  causeth  the  earth,  and  all  that  dwell  therein,  to 
worship  the  first  beast.  The  western  world,  and  its 
inhabitants,  are  reduced  by  the  machinations  of  a 
temporizing  priesthood,  to  yield  blind  submission  to 

*  Faber.        f  Bishop  Newton. 


THE    SECOND    BEAST.  429- 

the  civil  power,  however  impious  and  tyrannical. 
The  Spirit  of  liberty  and  independence,  which  cha- 
racterized the  invaders  of  ancient  Rome,  is  broken 
down  by  the  efforts  of  the  antichrislian  church,  and 
the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience,  is  inculcated  from 
llie  several  pulpits  of  oppressed  Europe.* 

The  imperial  power  re-established  over  Rome,  in 
consequence  of  the  victories  of  Narses,  is  supported 
by  the  church,  but  it  is  when  this  once  wounded 
head  appears  in  the  person  of  Phocas,  that  Gregory 
the  Roman  pontiff,  sets  the  example  of  worshipping 
the  beast,  which  his  successors  in  the  papal  church 
followed  themselves  in  the  exaltation  of   Charle- 

*  "  He  confirms  and  maintains  the  sovereignty  and  dominion  of 
(he  first  beast  over  his  sulyects.  He  supports  tt/rannt/,  as  he  is  by 
tyranny  supported."  These  words  indicate  the  sentiments  of  the 
bishop  of  Norwich,  for  which  Mr.  Faber,  as  the  apologist  of  pas- 
sive obedience,  calls  him  to  task.  We,  however,  who,  like  New- 
ton, and  Mr.  Whiston,  esteem  the  doctrine  of  subjection  to  tyran- 
ny, as  neither  honourable  nor  innocent  in  rational  creatures,  and 
esjjecially  in  those  who  have  the  light  of  divine  revelation,  con- 
sider it  criminal,  notwithstanding  the  criticism  of  Mr.  Faber,  to 
worship  ivilh  that  civil  homage  which  is  due  to  the  onli nance  of 
God,  the  beast  who  received  from  the  dragon,  the  devil,  all  the 
authority  with  which  he  is  invested.  When  comi)ulsion  is  applied, 
it  alters  the  case.  Involuntary  obedience  is  quite  a  ilifferent  thing. 
A  patient  submission  (o  irremediable  evil,  or  a  peaceable  conformity 
to  the  common  and  legitimate  order  of  society,  is  a  duty  which 
Christians  can  practise  without  worshipping  either  the  beast  or  his 
image :  but,  in  reality,  we  know  not  what  idea  to  attach  to  the 
term  worship,  as  applied  to  the  civil  government,  unless  it  lie  what 
bishop  Newton  and  Mr.  Whi?ton  allege,  a  slavish  Huhiuission  to 
diabolical  authority.  We  regret,  that  even  in  England,  such  a 
writer  as  Mr.  Faber  should  be  found  in  the  present  day,  to  come 
fofMi  as  the  apologist  of  the  degrading  doctrine  o!^ passive  obedience. 


430  THE   TWO   BEASX*' 

magne,   and  still  more  forcibly  urged   afterwards 
upon  others  throughout  the  whole  empire. 

Verse  13.  represents  the  ecclesiastical  beast  em- 
ployed in  w^hat  has  passed  among  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics, as  a  note  of  the  true  church,  performing  mira- 
cles— "  lying  wonders,  with  all  deceivableness  of  un- 
righteousness." The  14th  verse  continues  the  same 
idea,  and  introduces  into  the  description  of  the  eccle- 
siastical beast,  other  objects  to  which  we  promised  a 
distinct  attention. 

III.  The  image  of  the  beast,  together  with  his  mark, 
Ms  name,  and  the  number  of  his  name. 

Of  these  objects,  we  shall  speak  in  order. 

1.  The  IMAGE  of  the  beast.  Verses  14,  15. — 
Saying  to  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth,  That  they 
should  make  an  image  to  the  beast,  which  had  the  wound 
by  a  sword,  and  did  live.  And  he  had  power  to  give 
life  unto  the  image  of  the  beast,  that  the  image  of  the 
beast  should  both  speak,  and  cause  that  as  many  as 
would  not  worship  the  image  of  the  beast  should  be 
killed. 

This  image  is  the  papacy.  The  pope  of  Rome  is 
the  most  striking  representation  of  the  old  Roman 
emperors,  that  can  be  conceived  of  by  the  imagina- 
tion of  man.  "  He  is  the  common  centre  and  ce- 
ment, which  unites  all  the  distinct  kingdoms  of  the 
empire  ;  and  by  joining  with  them,  procures  them  a 
blind  obedience  from  their  subjects."*  "  He  is  the 
'"  Winston. 


THE   PAPACY,   THE   BEASTS    IMAGE.  4M 

principle  of  unity  to  the  ten  kingdoms  of  the  beast, 
and  causeth,  as  far  as  he  is  able,  all  who  will  not  ac- 
knowledge his  supremacy,  to  be  put  to  death.  In 
short,  he  is  the  most  perfect  likeness  and  resem- 
blance of  the  ancient  Roman  emperors;  is  as  great 
a  tyrant  in  the  Christian  world  as  they  were  in  the 
heathen  world ;  presides  in  the  same  city,  usurps 
the  same  powers;  aflfects  the  same  titles;  and  re- 
quires the  same  universal  homage  and  adoration. 
So  that  this  prophecy  descends  more  and  more  into 
particulars,  from  the  Roman  statCy  or  ten  kingdoms 
in  general,  to  the  JRoman  church  or  clergy,  in  parti- 
cular, and  still  more  particularly  to  the  person  of 
the  pope.^^* 

Mr.  Faber  differs  from  his  celebrated  predeces- 
sor upon  this  subject;  but  without  a  cause.  He 
considers  this  image  literally,  as  the  images  wor- 
shipped by  the  Roman  Catholics.  His  principal  ar- 
gument is,  that  an  image  to  the  beast,  is  not  an  imago 
of  him.  But  in  this  case,  the  image  is  both  unto  and 
of  the  beast.  It  is  called  the  image  of  the  beasl, 
and  his  image  or  representation,  nine  different 
times.f 

According  to  this  mode  of  exposition,  there  is  no 
confusion  in  the  predictions.  The  empire,  the 
church,  and  the  papacy,  although  all  united  in  one 
terrible  and  impious  apostacy,  are  perfectly  dis- 
tinguishable from  one  another.  Every  part  of  the 
text,  and  indeed  every  passage  in  which  the  image 

*  Bishop  Newton. 

t  See  Rev.  xiii.  15.  xiv.  9,  11.  xv.  2.  .xvi.  2.  \ix.  20. 

and  XX.  4. 


432  THE    TWO    BEASTS. 

of  the  beast  appears,  corresponds  perfectly  with  this 
application  of  the  symbol.  The  pope,  is  the  creature 
of  the  church,  or  second  beast,  as  well  as  the  resem- 
blance of  the  emperor,  or  first  beast.  The  second 
beast  caused  him  to  be  made  and  w^orshipped.  In 
the  medals  of  Martin  V.  "  two  cardinals  are  re- 
presented crowning  the  pope,  and  two  kneeling  be- 
fore him,  with  this  inscription,  qnem  creant  adoranl, 
whom  they  create,  they  adore."* 

In  support  of  this  interpretation,  and  in  refutation 
of  Mr.  Faber's  opinion,  I  offer  the  following  argu- 
ments. 

1.  In  the  vision  of  John  the  Divine,  we  are  not  to 
consider  one  part  of  the  representation  as  literal, 
while  the  other  part  of  the  hieroglyphic  is  under- 
stood metaphorically:  and  as  the  heast  is  not  to  be 
understood  literally,  the  image  is  neither  a  picture 
nor  a  statue. 

2.  The  images  which  the  Roman  Catholics  wor- 
ship, are  pictures  or  representations  of  several  ob- 
jects; God,  angels,  Christ,  the  virgin  Mary,  and  in- 
numerable saints,  &;c.  &c.  but  this  image  is  that  of 
the  beast,  or  the  Roman  emperor. 

3.  The  idols  of  the  popish  churches  are  dead  in- 
animate objects;  but  this  image  is  quite  a  different 
personage — having  life,  speech,  and  action. 

4.  Literal  images  never  persecute  those  who  neg- 
lect either  themselves  or  others:    but  this  image 

*  Bishop  Newton. 


THE   MARK   OP  THE   BEAST.  433 

causes  to  he  put  to  dtalhy  by  delivering  over  to  the 
sword  of  tlie  magistrate,  as  many  as  would  not  wor- 
ship him. 

We  sliall  now  inquire, 

2.  What  is  the  mark  of  the  bea:it? 

Verses  16,  17.  And  he  caused  all,  both  small  and 
grcatf  rich  and  poor,  free  and  bond,  to  receive  a  mark 
in  their  right  hand  or  in  their  foreheads :  and  that  no 
man  might  buy  or  sell,  save  he  that  had  the  mark. 

Of  this  mark,  the  following  things  are  affirmed 
in  (he  text,  and  the  parallel  passages  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse. 1.  It  is  the  mark  of  the  frsl  or  ten-horned 
beast,  the  civil  Latin  empire,  chap.  xix.  20.  the  mark 
of  the  beast,  %  ;^«^«)<juot  7a  9->)^<«:  and  in  this  verse,  the 
Jii'st  beast  is  distinguished  from  the  hierarchy  which 
is  called  the  false  prophet ;  it  is  also  the  mark  of  his 
name,  xiv.  11.  2.  The  x'^^^yi^**  or  mark  of  the 
secular  power,  is  imposed  by  tlie  false  prophet,  or 
second  beast ;  it  is  he  who  had  the  two  horns  like  a 
lamb,  and  spake  as  a  dragon,  that  both  gives  life  to 
the  image,  and  imposes  the  mark — caused  to  be  re- 
ctived.  3.  It  is  imposed  upon  all  discription  of 
people  throughout  the  Roman  empire,  except  the 
saints  and  martyrs.  Chap.  xx.  4.  That  were  beheaded 
for  the  witness  of  Jesus,  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and 
which  had  not  worshipped  the  beast,  neither  his  image, 
neither  had  received  his  mark.  4.  It  is  differently  im- 
posed,— on  the  foreheads  of  some,  ami  on  the  hand  of 
others,  the  right  hand.  5.  It  is  the  elfect  of  "  strong 
3  G 


434  THE   TWO   BEAST3. 

delusion"  to  receive  ibis  mark.  Cliap.  xix.  20.  The 
false  prophet  deceived  them  th(d  had  the  mark  of  the 
least.  6.  It  nevertheless  secures  their  worldly  in- 
terests throughout  the  empire :  no  man  might  buy  or 
sell  save  he  that  had  the  mark.  7.  This  badge  or 
X^^ot-y^ot'i  while  it  secures  secular  advantages,  subjects 
the  possessor  to  the  plagues  of  the  vials,  chap.  xv.  2. 
And  8thly,  This  mark  devotes  to  destruction.  Chap. 
xiv.  1 1 .  And  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up 
for  ever  and  ever:  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor 
night  who  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  who- 
soever receiveth  the  mark  of  his  name. 

Grotius  and  Spencer,*  with  their  wonted  industry 
and  erudition,  have  furnished  the  means  of  explain- 
ing this  symbol  by  the  customs  of  antiquity.  The 
slave  received  the  mark  of  his  master;  the  soldier 
of  his  general ;  and  the  devotee  of  his  idol :  these 
marks,  impressed  on  the  hand  or  the  forehead, 
consisted  of  the  name  at  length,  or  the  initials  of 
the  name ;  of  some  cipher  which  had  a  definite  con- 
ventional signification;  or  of  certain  hieroglyphics 
generally  understood.  Thus,  he  who  imposed  the 
mark,  declared  his  property ;  and  they  who  received 
it,  avowed  their  submission  and  their  determination 
to  serve. 

The  mark  ii»  the  forehead,  is  avowed  subjection  to 
the  complex  and  impious  power  of  the  nations,  in  all 
cases  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  to  the  full  extent  of 
their  tyrannical  claims ;  and  that  in  the  hand  denotes 
activity,    in    supporting    these    thrones    of  iniquity, 

*  Spen.  de  leg.  Heb.  lib.  ii.  Cap.  20.  Sect.  1—4. 


THE    MARK   OF   THE   BEAST.  4.'iJ 

whether  with  or  without  the  profession  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  creed,  or  any  other  heresy  whaTsoever. 

This  blind  subjection  to  the  corrupt  systems  ol 
civil  order,  which  in  despite  of  the  light  of  revela- 
tion, has  so  long  cursed  Christendom,  unites  all  the 
characters  connected  with  the  mark  of  the  beast  in 
the  sacred  text,  in  a  much  higher  degree,  than  the 
sprinkling  of  holy  water,  the  application  of  the  sign 
of  the  cioss,  or  any  other  of  the  superstitious  and 
contemptible  fooleries  of  the  church  of  Rome. 

Support  to  the  secular  power,  urged  by  the  eccle- 
siastical, upon  all  descriptions  of  men,  avowed  and 
acted  upon,  under  the  influence  of  delusion,  and  for 
the  sake  of  temporal  gain,  while  it  involves  an  ad- 
mission of  those  antichristian  principles  which  oppose 
the  rights  of  God  and  man,  and  which  tend  to  per- 
petuate the  unholy  despotism  of  the  European  na- 
tions, cannot  but  be  criminal  in  the  sight  of  the 
moral  Governor  of  the  world,  and  must  expose  to 
punishment  all  upon  whose  heads  its  guilt  doth  rest. 
This,  and  not  any  sensible  sign,  such  as  the  cross  in 
baptism,  is  the  mark  of  the  beast.* 

*  "  We  are  not  to  imagine  tliat  any  external  mark  was  to  be  im- 
pressed on  any  part  of  the  bodies  of  the  votaries  of  Rome:  but 
only  that  they  should  be  known  to  l)e  the  votaries  of  Rome,  by 
certain  traits  in  their  character."  Johnston. 

"  This  mark  of  the  Latin  empire,  the  Roman  beast  is  nothing 
else,  but  that  professed  servitude,  oI)cdience,  confederacy,  or  con- 
currence, which  the  subjects  tliereof  have  avouched." 

LoHD  Napier. 

This  author,  in  a  very  ingenious  Dissertation,  endeavours  to  |)rove 
that  the  sign  of  the  cross  became  afterwards  the  mark  ol  the  first 
beast,  or  Roman  empire,  and  that  it  was  derived,  not  from  the  cross 


436  THE   TWO   BEASTS. 

It  remains  for  us  now  to  ascertain, 
3.  The  name  of  the  beast. 

At  the  reformation,  the  papal  power  was  naturally 
the  object  of  dislike  and  reprobation ;  and  nothing 
could  be  more  effectual  in  justifying  the  conduct  of 
the  protestants,  than  to  establish  a  belief  that  popery 
was  the  spiritual  monster  from  which  Christians  were 
enjoined  to  separate  themselves.  It  was  upon  this 
principle,  that  in  their  zeal  to  purify  the  church,  our 
reformers  fell  into  the  habit  of  applying  promiscu- 
ously the  predictions  of  the  great  apostacy  to  the 
pope,  as  the  acknowledged  head  of  the  Catholic 
church.  The  names,  beast  and  antichrist,  wei  e  ac- 
cordingly applied  to  him.  The  friends  of  the  pre- 
vailing superstition,  endeavoured  to  parry  the 
blow,  and  to  discover  others  to  whom  some  parts  of 
the  scriptural  predictions  might  be  applied.  This 
produced  many  curious  and  absurd  expositions  of 
the  name,  and  the  number  of  the  name,  pointed  out 
in  the  following  passage. 

Verse  18.  Here  is  wisdom.  Let  him.  that  hath  un- 
derstanding count  the  number  of  the  beast ;  for  it  is  the 

of  Christ,  but  from  the  name  of  the  beast  Lateinos.  Mr.  Faber  too 
adopts  this  opinion,  and  with  an  awkward  apology  for  the  use  of  the 
sig7i  of  the  cross  by  the  church  of  England,  he  declares  it  to  be 
the  mark  of  the  beast. 

I  admit  it  to  be  a  mark  of  superstition.  I  admit  it  to  be  a  badge 
of  antichristian  delusion;  but  certainly  a  cross  is  not  the  repre- 
sentative of  Latinus,  confessedly  the  name  of  the  beast :  and  yet 
the  Apocalyptical  mark  is  the  mark  both  of  the  secular  empire  and 
of  the  name,  chap.  xiv.  1 1 . 


THE    NAME    AND    NUMBER   OF    THE    BEAST.        437 

number  of  a  wan;  and  his  number  is  six  hundred 
threescore  and  six. 

Since  the  power  of  the  church  of  Rome  lias  ceased 
to  (ill  the  world  with  terror ;  and  Satan  carries  on 
his  hostility  to  the  cause  of  religion  by  other  weap- 
ons, such  as  the  flood  of  heresy  and  infidelity  with 
which  he  hoped  to  carry  away  the  mystic  woman,  men 
have  amused  themselves,  and  have  gratified  their 
personal  animosities,  and  their  political  prejudices, 
by  applications  of  this  text  to  the  various  characters 
which  were  to  them  peculiarly  obnoxious. 

The  apologists  of  Rome,  the  irreligious  class  of 
protestant  writers,  the  Commentators  of  a  mere  po- 
litical creed,  and  the  undiscerning  among  the  ortho- 
dox and  pious,  have  so  multiplied  interpretations, 
as  to  confound  where  they  ought  to  enlighten. 

The  number  666,  has  been  tliscovered  in  the  names, 
Ulpius,  Trajanus,  Dioclesian,  Julian  the  apostate, 
Luther,  Evanthas,  Latinus,  Titan,  Lampelis,  Nike- 
tis,  Kakos,  Hodegos,  Arnoumai,  Romiit,  our  holy 
father  the  p)ope;  and  even  in  the  sacred  names  of  the 
Most  High  God.*  Mahomet,  Louis  XIV.  Crom- 
well, king  George  IIL  Napoleon,  <Sic.  &c.  have  all 
thus  been  numbered. 

To  avoid,  as  they  supposed,  such  confusion  and 
uncertainty,  several  excellent  expositors  have  en- 
deavoured to  apply  the  scriptural  number  666,  not 
to  distinguish  a  name ;  but  to  ascertain  dates ;  and 
by  adding  this  sum  to  the  time  of  the  apostle  John's 
banishment  in  Patmos,  fancied  that  they  had  accu- 

•  Calmef. 


438  THE    TWO    BEASTS. 

rafely  discovered  the  commencement  of  tlie  great 
period  of  1 260  years. 

Others  again,  instead  of  rendering  the  ;^^s-  of  this 
text  numerically,  have  taken  the  libejty  of  consider- 
ing them  as  the  initials  of  certain  words.  X§<?o? 
|uAov  5-«4u^o?,  Christ,  wood,  cross ;  using  further  license 
with  these  Greek  letters,  they  have  been  made  to 
represent  the  number  1066;  and  thus  by  a  double 
entendre,  by  referring  to  the  wood  of  the  cross  of 
Christy  to  the  pontificate  of  Urban  II.  the  text  has 
been  applied  to  the  age  of  the  Crusades. 

The  words,  however,  of  this  passage  are,  when  duly 
considered,  too  pointed  to  give  any  sanction  what- 
ever to  such  sporting  with  the  mystic  number  666. 

If  was  a  method  practised  among  the  ancients, 
to  denote  names  by  numbers;  and  the  author  of 
Revelation  accommodates  his  expressions  to  the  well- 
known  customs  of  the  age.*  In  this  case  the  follow- 
ing considerations  restrict  the  application  of  the 
number  to  its  proper  object,  and  serve  to  ascertain 
the  name  of  the  beast. 

1st.  It  is  the  proper  name  of  the  ^^r^/  beast  or 
secular  empire.  Chap.  xiv.  11.  The  mark  and  the 
name  respect  the  same  beast.  2.  It  is  the  common 
name  of  all  those  who  belong  to  the  empire.  Chap. 
xiii.  1 7.  3.  It  is  the  proper  name  of  a  certain  man. 
4,  It  contains  the  number  666.  All  these  four 
marks  meet  in  one  word,  and  in  one  word  only: 

*  The  river  iViVc,  Ne<Ao5,  was  counted  holy,  as  containing  365; 
Theuth,  or  Mercury,  was  desigaaled  by  1218;  Jupiter  by  737;  the 
Sun  by  008.    See  Daubuz,  Selden,  Napier,  Lowman,  Newton. 


THE  NAME  AND  NUMBER  OF  THE  BEAST.   439 

that  word  must  be  the  name  of  the  beast.  Latinus 
is  the  proper  name  of  the  western  Roman  empire. 
In  distinguishing  it  from  the  Greek  it  is  called  the 
Latin  empire  :  The  same  name  applies  to  the  whole 
population,  "  the  Latins :"  It  is  the  name  of  an  in- 
dividual man  ;  Latinus,  the  ancient  king  of  Latium 
and  the  founder  of  the  empire :  And  this  7iame  con- 
tains the  number  specified.  In  order  to  calculate  the 
number,  we  must  evidently  employ  Ihe  language 
of  the  New  Testament — Tlie  name  in  Greek  is 
Lateinos. 

A 30 

A 1 

T 300 

E 5 

I 10 

N 50 

O 70 

2 200 

Aaruvot     .     .     » 666 

I  know  it  has  been  alleged,  that  this  calculation 
finds  it  necessary  to  supply  a  letter  in  the  name 
Latinus,  more  than  obtains  in  the  common  olhogra- 
phy ;  and  I  readily  admit,  that  in  our  Greek  books, 
when  the  word  occurs,  it  is  without  an  epsilon,  aa- 
TINOZ.  This  objection  could  be  made  only  by  a 
Greek  scholar;  but  a  good  Greek  scholar  will  never 
attach  any  importance  to  it:  for  tlH  ancient  ortho- 
graphy, both  Latin  and  Greek,  h  Lateinos,    The 


440  THE   TWO    BEASTS. 

celebrated  Irenseus,  who  studied  the  sacred  oracles 
under  the  direction  of  Polycarp,  one  of  the  disciples 
of  the  apostle  John,  and  who  had  conversed  with 
many  who  had  seen  face  to  face  the  writer  of  this 
prophecy,  gives  this  interpretation,  confirming  the 
reading  of  the  word  with  an  epsilon,  by  the  authority 
of  the  ancient  manuscripts.  In  the  matter  of  fact, 
he  could  not  be  mistaken;  and  whatever  we  think  of 
bis  commentary,  his  evidence  as  to  the  orthography 
of  Lateinos  is  conclusive. 

It  is  not  a  strange  thing  in  any  language,  to  meet 
with  alterations  in  the  spelling  of  a  word ;  and  it  is 
but  reasonable  to  expect,  that  in  any  case  of  impor- 
tance, that  orthography  which  is  in  actual  use  at  the 
time,  or  which,  if  going  into  disuse,  is  most  agreeable 
to  analogy,  should  be  the  one  adopted  by  a  judicious 
author.  We  infer  of  course,  that  the  author  of  the 
Apocalypse,  if  he  at  all  referred  to  Lateinos,  would 
consider  it  as  having  the  letter  e ;  because  this  is 
both  agreeable  to  the  analogy  of  Latin  proper 
names  having  the  long  ^,  when  rendered  into  the 
Greek;  and  it  is  the  matter  of  fact  that  the  ancients 
used  the  diphthong  £«,  in  writing  it.  The  testimony 
of  Irencms  is  evidence  of  the  fact;  and  the  name 
Longinus  proves  the  analogy.  By  the  old  Greek 
writers  it  was  Aovyg»vo? ;  by  the  more  recent,  the  e  is 
dropped.* 

*  One  of  the  first  scholars  of  the  age,  who  adds  to  a  very  exten. 
sive  acquaintance  with  the  sciences,  physical  and  moral,  a  rich  fund 
of  Oriental  literature,  and  particular  familiarity  with  the  Greek 
language,  the  Rev.  J\fl[.  WviiiE,  of  Philadelphia^  wrote  to  uie,  at 
the  time  this  subject  was  under  consideration,  as  follows : 


CONCLUSION.  Ill 

This  name  being  ascorlaincd,  it  settles  beyond  all 
controversy,  what  is  the  object  of  the  several  pre- 
dictions relative  to  the  beast  of  the  Apocalypse.  It 
demonstrates  that  object  to  be  thg  state  of  so- 
ciety, as  it  respects  the  Christian  religion,  in  the 
west  of  Europe,  until  the  era  of  the  millennium. 

roNCUJSio.v. 

It  was  foreseen  that  this  portion  of  the  civilized 
world,  should  be  for  ages  the  most  interesting  and 
the  most  important  to  man  in  general,  and  unto 
Christians  particularly ;  therefore  are  its  concerns 
put  upon  the  records  of  prophetic  history  with  more 


"  I  have  not,  in  the  course  of  my.  reading,  discovered  any  in 
stance  of  the  Latin  word  Latiniis  being  si)elleil  diphlhongally  in 
Greek.  It  is  a  matter  of  fact,  tliat  Polybius  frequently  spells  it  sim- 
ply with  Iota.  The  Latin  writers  themselves,  however,  used  the 
long  i,  and  the  dij)hthoag  ci,  often  indiscriminately.  Omnis  or 
omneis,  belli  or  bellei,  virtuti  or  virtutei,  liberlati  or  libertatei, 
&c.  &c. 

"  The  analogy  of  numberless  Avorda  will  support  the  version  of  the 
Roman  i  into  the  Greek  «.  Ireiucus  himself  has  for  his  initial  the 
diphthong  «.  The  Latin  words  Idea,  Alcides,  Clltus,  ct  eodemgeneri 
scxccnta  alia,  might  be  mentioned:  but  what  is  still  more  in  point, 
Sabinus,  Antoninus,  Longinus,  are  spelled  in  Greek  with  the  diph- 
thong. IMontlauc.  Pal.  Par.  Ed.  p.  162, 163,  Lo/jn^mus  moreover  is 
now,  as  well  as  Latinus,  written  in  Greek  with  iota  alone.  Let  any 
one  who  feels  scrupulous  upon  tliis  point,  consult  some  of  the  Greek 
writings  of  the  eighth  or  ninth  centuries,  and  he  will  find  number- 
less instances  of  a  similar  description.  Vide  Montf.  lib.  iii.  p.  236 
and  237.  where,  after  speaking  of  the  frequent  interchange  of 
vowels  and  diphthongs,  we  have  the  following  words;  quid  mirum 
si  Latinus  scriba  dical  yuyuTKH  pro  yuMTr.n."' 
3  IT 


442  tOxXCLUsiOA. 

copiousness  and  precision,  than  are   those  oi  any 
other  part  of  the  human  family. 

The  Latin  earth  is  the  scene  of  prediction :  the 
Latin  empire,  with  its  several  kingdoms,  constitute 
the  seven-headed  ten-horned  beast :  the  Latin  church 
is  the  grand  apostacy  which  corrupts  religion ;  and 
the  Latin  system  of  social  order,  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tic, is  peculiarly  diabolical,  and  is  to  be  punished, 
and  ultimately  destroyed,  by  the  vials  of  the  wrath 
of  God. 

It  is  not  then  as  a  matter  of  curiosity,  that  we  en- 
deavour to  ascertain  the  name,  and  the  number  of 
the  name  of  the  first  beast.  It  is  of  importance  in 
understanding  the  predictions,  to  define  the  countries 
which  are  to  be  affected  by  the  judgments.  Certain 
as  we  are  from  the  inspired  oracles,  that  the  king- 
doms of  the  Latin  world,  whatever  changes  they  un- 
dergo, do  not  become,  until  the  1260  years  are  ex- 
pired, the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  we  still  include 
under  the  character  of  horns  of  the  beast,  the  seve- 
ral nations  of  western  Europe,  not  excepting  those 
which  are  called  protestant. 

If  modern  Europe  could  be  supposed  to  furnish 
an  exception,  it  would  be  in  reference  to  the  British 
empire,  where  is  to  be  found  the  most  pure  and  act- 
ive part  of  the  church  of  God:  but  the  text  admits 
of  no  exception  within  the  bounds  of  the  Latin 
earth ;  and  we  shall  afterwards  furnish  a  full  demon- 
stration of  the  fact,  that  the  British  government  is, 
notwithstanding  its  secession  from  the  communion 
of  the  church  of  Rome,  still  a  part  of  the  secular 
empire,  and  a  horn  of  the  first  beast,  deriving  like 


CONCLUSION.  413 

the  other  powers  of  the  nations,  its  authority  from 
the  dragon. 

It  wouki  not  be  «iirj)rising,  iiidcfHl,  were  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  System  of  religion  to  be  hereafter  in- 
troduced to  power  among  the  various  nations  that 
espoused  the  protestant  cause  at  the  reformation. 
"  An  insidious  liberality  of  sentiment,  which  con- 
founds the  eternal  distinctions  of  truth  and  false- 
hood, has  aflectcd  protestant s.  They  no  longer 
view  with  abhorrence,  the  blasphemy  and  idolatry  of 
the  papal  hierarchy ;  but  consider  them  trifling  er- 
rors— mere  venial  mistakes.  Their  profession  is  a 
mere  name,  and  their  external  adherence  to  it,  the 
effect  of  habit  and  education.  Their  indifference  to 
the  discriminating  tenets  of  their  religion,  predis- 
poses them  to  yield  readily  to  the  arts  and  designs 
of  the  Catholics. 

"  Unhappily,  they  (the  Catholics)  have  been  hither- 
to but  too  successful :  for  they  have  evidently  gained 
ground  in  the  last  and  present  century,  notwithstand- 
ing the  abridgment  of  the  pope's  temporal  authority. 
Many  princes,  of  families  which  were  once  eminent 
in  their  attachment  to  the  reformation,  have  aposta- 
tized :  and  states  by  right  of  succession  have  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  Catholics.  In  Gemiany  and  in 
Holland,  the  faith  of  many  protestants  has  been  un- 
hinged by  artifice  and  sophistry,  so  that  they  have 
fallen  into  the  embraces  of  the  Roman  church.  In 
Great  Britain,  the  Catholics  are  striving  to  become 
eligible  by  law,  to  the  high  offices  of  state,  and  to 
places  of  importance  in  the  army  and  navy. — Their 
emancipation,  as  it  \f  improperly  called,  will,  I  ap- 


444  <  OKCLUi?io.\. 

prebend,  be  fbe  deatb-blow  to  ibe  protestanl  iiilei- 
est  in  Britain. — The  fall  of  Britain,  as  a  protestant 
state,  will,  perhaps,  afford  the  true  explanation  to 
the  slaying  of  the  witnesses.  * 

*'  The  success  of  the  Catholics  in  Germany,  and 
other  places,  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  Jesuits.  They 
are  countenanced  in  Austria,  and  have  the  direction 
of  the  schools  there.  In  the  Palatinate,  especially 
the  Dutchy  of  Juliers  and  Bergs,  they  are  favour- 
ably received.  In  Bavaria,  they  have  amazing  in- 
fluence. In  Sweden  and  Denmark,  they  have  many 
adherents.  In  West  Russia,  they  have  a  religious 
establishment  of  their  own."* 

We  turn  away  from  the  further  contemplation  of 
this  painful  picture  of  the  religious  state  of  modern 
Europe.  In  the  succeeding  Lecture  I  shall  call  your 
attention  to  a  more  agreeable  object,  and  give  a  rapid 
sketch  of  the  history  of  tiie  true  church  during  the 
well-known  period,  time,  times,  and  the  dividing  of 
time.  To  that  company  let  our  affections  be  di- 
rected, that  with  them  we  may  sing  the  song  of  Mo- 
ses, and  the  song  of  Ihe  Lamb.     Amen. 

*  Dr.  Ronnyn's  Fast  Sermons.      Albany,  ]80o 


CHARACTER  AND  HISTORY 

OF 

TRUE  CHRISTMJS'S 

DURING  THE  GENERAL  APOSTACY. 


LECTURE  XIII. 


Rev,  xiv.  1 — l3....And  I  looked,  and^  lo,  a  Lamb 
stood  on  the  mount  Sion,  and  with  him  an  hundred 
forty  and  four  thousand,  having  his  Father^ s  name 
written  in  their  foreheads,  &c.  &c. 

John  the  apostle,  like  the  son  of  Zacharias,  of 
the  same  name,  points  out  to  those  who  look  for 
him,  the  Saviom*  which  is  Christ  the  Lord.  "  Behold," 
said  the  Baptist,  at  the  bank  of  Jordan,  "  the  Lamb 
of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world !" 
"  And  I  looked,"  said  the  son  of  Zebedee,  during 
the  great  apostacy  from  Christianity,  which  affected 
all  the  nations,  "  and,  lo,  a  Lamb  stood  on  the  mount 
Sion." 

Employing  the  language  of  these  two  great  and 
distinguished  ministers  of  the  church,  we  now  ad- 
dress you,  unto  whom  the  Saviour  is  precious ;  we 
direct  your  eyes  to  the  same  personage,  still  occu- 


446  THE   TRUE    CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

pying  the  same  place,  still  retaining  the  same  cha- 
racter, and  still  dispensing  pardon  and  felicity. 

Lo,  brethren,  standing  before  you,  God-man,  your 
friend  and  your  brother,  as  the  Head  of  his  own 
church.  He  is  more  than  any  human  philanthropist. 
"  This  is  no  vain  theorist,  coldly  speculating  upon 
imaginary  schemes  of  improvement,  bewildering  his 
disciples  with  the  peradventures  of  doubtful  dispu- 
tation, or  indolently  suggesting  impracticable  plans 
of  reform."  He  whom  we  preach  is  alive  to  your 
wants  and  your  woes ;  he  is  ever  awake  and  in  ac- 
tion, doing  good  and  diffusing  happiness. 

Along  with  him  is  a  sealed  company  of  men,  de- 
voted to  his  cause,  animated  by  his  Spirit,  called, 
and  chosen,  and  faithful.  The  angels  of  the  upper 
sanctuary,  minister  to  them  in  obedience  to  his  com- 
mand ;  and  their  own  messengers,  by  his  appointment, 
preach  the  everlasting  gospel,  and  proclaim  in  their 
hearing  the  downfal  of  their  foes. 

The  plan  which  I  purpose  to  pursue  in  this  Lec- 
ture is.  To  settle  the  chronology  of  the  chapter — Give 
the  history  of  its  contents — and  make  application, 

I.  Ascertain  the  time  to  which  the  prophecy  (f  the 
fourteenth  chapter  has  reference. 

This  chapter  describes  the  eighth  vision  of  John 
the  Divine,  and  is  evidently  intended  to  relieve 
Christian  anxiety,  excited  by  the  alarming  repre- 
sentation of  the  SEVENTH  VISION,  rccoided  in  the 
preceding  chapter.  There,  we  had  a  developement 
of  the  antichristian  system,  as  it  respects  the  two 


THE   TIME   OF   THIS   PROPHFXY.  447 

aieat  and  distinct  kinds  of  human  society,  civil  and 
^eccUsiaslic,  within  the  bounds  of  the  Latin  world. 
We  have  seen  our  fellow-men,  degraded  throughout 
the  different  nations,  by  the  united  powers  of  the 
first  and  the  second  beast,  into  a  state  of  slavish  sub- 
jection to  tyranny  and  superstition  •.  and  so  made  to 
suffer  for  the  crhne  of  bearing  the  mark  of  the  beast, 
and  of  his  name  ;  a  crime  in  which  the  people  must 
share  with  their  superiors,  both  despotic  princes  and 
corrupted  priests ;  inasmuch  as  they  have  the  power 
at  will  to  remedy  the  evil.  Had  not  the  people  con- 
sented to  give  their  power  to  the  kinifs  of  the  earth, 
the  kings  could  not  have  with  one  mind  given  their 
power  unto  the  beast. 

Here,  we  have  an  account  of  true  Christians  who 
disapproved  of  the  prevailing  policy,  and  who,  al- 
though unknown  to  one  another  on  earth,  and  with- 
out any  concert  or  plan  of  co-operation,  are  united 
by  their  living  Redeemer,  into  one  holy  assembly, 
interesting  to  behold.  From  the  nature  of  the  con- 
trast of  the  sealed  servants  of  God  in  this  chapter, 
with  the  marked  slaves  of  the  beast  in  the  preceding, 
we  are  led  to  conclude  that  the  two  visions  have  re- 
spect to  the  same  space  of  time. 

This  idea  has  occurred  to  every  judicious  expo- 
sitor of  the  Revelation;  and  has  induced  almost  all 
Commentators  to  apply  this  cliapter  to  events  which 
come  to  pass  during  some  part  of  the  period  of  the 
beast's  reign.  We  apply  the  predictions  so  as  to  run 
parallel  with  the  history  of  the  apostacy,  during  the 
whole  remarkable  period  of  the  1 260  years.  The 
text  itself  furnishes  the  means  of  ascertaining   its 


448  THE   TRUE   CHRISTIAN    CHURCH, 

chronology,  and  justifies  our  application  of  it  to  th€ 
time  specified. 

The  harvest  and  the  vintage  with  which  the  xivth 
chapter  closes,  obviously  describe  the  concluding 
judgments  of  heaven  upon  the  antichristian  foe. 
Gathering  in  the  corn,  and  making  the  wine,  is  the 
end  of  the  husbandman's  labours ;  and  so  the  har- 
vest and  the  vintage  conclude  the  season  under 
consideration,  whether  it  be  a  time  of  wrath  or  of 
mercy.  In  this  connexion,  these  symbols  must  be 
understood  as  indicating  the  wrath  of  God,  de- 
nounced by  the  several  angels  upon  the  symhoUcal 
Babylon;  and  they  must  of  course  be  explained  of 
the  concluding  judgments,  at  the  close  of  the  period 
already  pointed  out — the  time  of  the  end. 

The  commencement  of  the  vision  cannot  be  dated 
at  any  time  subsequent  to  the  rise  of  the  man  of  sin : 
for  it  expressly  refers  to  an  event  which  took  place 
after  the  revolution  in  the  Roman  empire,  from  Pa- 
ganism to  the  profession  of  Christianity.  The  com- 
pany of  144,000,  who  stand  with  the  Lamb  on  mount 
Sion,  having  their  Father's  name  written  in  their 
foreheads,  w^ere  thus  marked  out  after  the  sixth  seal, 
and  before  the  opening  of  the  seventh,  that  is,  some 
time  between  the  accession  of  Constantino  to,  the 
throne  of  Rome,  and  the  reign  of  the  Great  Theodo- 
sius.  In  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  Revelation,  we 
have  "a  description  of  the  sealing  of  12,000  from  each 
of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  and  these  constitute 
the  body  of  pious  men  who  are  introduced  to  view 
in  the  first  verse  of  the  fourteenth  chapter. 

The  idea  of  sealing  the  servants  of  God  is  taken 
from  Ezek.  ix.  4.  Go  through  the  midst  of  the  city. 


THE   TIME   OF   THIS   PROPHECY.  449 

Ihrou^rh  the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  and  set  a  mark  upon 
the  foreheads  of  the  men  that  siirh  and  cry  for  all  tic 
abominations  that  be  done  in  the  midst  thereoj.  lUe. 
operation  of  marking  the  saiuls  was  as  necessary  in 
the  4th  century,  as  it  was  in  the  ago  ol  Ezekiel. 
-  The  number  of  immoral  and  unworthy  Christians 
began  so  to  increase,  that  tlie  examples  of  real 
piety  and  virtue  became  extremely  rare. 

"  When  the  terrors  of  persecution  were  totally 
dispelled;  when  the  church,  secured  from  the  oflorts 
of  its  enemies,  enjoyed  the  sweets  of  prosperity  and 
peace;  when  the  most  of  the  bishops  exhibited  to 
their  flock  the  contagious  examples  of  arrogance, 
luxury,  etreminacy,  animosity,- and  strife,  with  other 
vices   too   numerous  to  mention,    then   it  was  no 
wonder    that  the    church  was    contamiiiated  with 
shoals  of  profligate  Christians,  and  that  the  virluou^ 
feiv  were  in  a  manner  oppressed  and  overwhelmed  with 
the  superior  numbers  of  the  wicked  and  licentious.  - 
The   144,000  which  were  sealed   in  this  age  ol 
corruption,  are  introduced  at  the  beginning  of  the 
xivth  chapter,   and  hence  we   infer,  that  tl^  pro- 
phecy  ought  to  be  applied  to  the  early,  as  well  as  to 
the  more  recent,  ages  of  the  antichristian  apostacy. 
Presented  in  vision  as  they  are,  for  the  purpose 
of  assuring  us  that  the  church  shall   not  be   de^ 
.troyed;  and  that  in  the  most  dissolute  age  there  shall 
be  saints,  it  was  necessary  that  this  hope   should 
be  cherished  from  the  very  origin  of  the  prevail- 
ing  evil.     Therefore,   do   we   conclude,  that  this 

•   Mo=b.  Vol.  I.  page  372.     PhiJ.  KO" 

:^  T 


450  TRUE    CHRlSriAi\r;. 

chapter  gives  us  the  history  of  the  saints,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  1260  years, 

II.  The  contents  of  the  fourteenth  chapter. 

The  general  division  of  this  chapter  is  into  three 
parts,  each  of  which  admits  of  subdivision.  We 
are  furnished  with  a  description  of  true  Christians — 
with  a  history  of  the  principal  revivals  among  them— 
and  with  an  account  of  the  total  overthrow  of  their 
enemies. 

AVe  shall  direct  your  attention  to  each  of  these 
in  the  order  in  which  they  occur. 

Description  of  the  saints  during  the  apostacy. 

Verse  1 — 5.  And  I  looked,  and,  lo,  a  Lamb  stood 
an  the  mount  Sion,  and  with  him  an  hundred  forty 
andfour  thousarid,  having  his  Father's  name  written  in 
their  foreheads.  And  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven, 
as  the  voice  of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of 
great  thunder  ;  and  I  heard  the  voice  of  harpers 
harping  with  their  harps :  And  they  sung  as  it  were 
a  new  song  before  the  throne,  and  before  the  four 
beasts  an^  the  elders:  and  no  man  coidd  learn  that 
song  but  the  hundred  and  forty  andfour  thousand, 
which  were  redeemed  from  the  earth.  These  are  they 
which  were  not  defiled  with  women  ;  for  they  are  vir- 
gins.  These  are  they  which  follow  the  Lamb  whither- 
soever he  goeth.  These  were  redeemed  from  among  men, 
being  the  first-fruits  unto  God  and  to  the  Lamb.    And 


DESCRIPTION   OF  THE   SAINTS.  451 

intheir, ,, outknm  fomul  no  gnilc:  for  they  are  m(h- 
oul  fault  before  the  Ikrone  of  God.         .        ,       ,      , 
The  mountain  Sion  is  the  true  Chnslmn  church.   A 
mountain,  in  the  sy  n.bolic.l  stylo,  is  the  sect  of  power, 
either  civil  or  religious,  good  or  bad.      Babylon, 
though  situated  low  on  the  banks  of  the  r.ver,  is  call- 
ed the  destroying  mountain;  and  the  t>  luniphs  of  Chris- 
tianity over  all  the  nations,  is  denoted  by  the  phrase 
the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be  establish- 
ed over  the  lops  of  the    mountains.    On  ^  moym- 
tain  stood  the  temple  of  the   Lord,  and  therefore 
does   it  denote  his  place  of  residence  among   his 
people.     In  Sion  is  his  scat.    This  expression  de- 
notes the  dignity,  the  beauty,  and  the  stability  of 
Christianity.     Ye  are  come  unto  mount  Z.o«. 

There  stands  the  Lamb.  Messiah  appears  to  1  is 
church  as  the  victim  for  our  sins:  for  we  desire  to 
know  nothing  but  Christ  crucified  He  is  a  in-.e,t 
upon  his  throne.  He  that  liveth  and  was  dead, 
stands  at  the  head  of  his  saints;  and  protects  them 
from  the  mid  beast  having  the  horns  of  a  lamb  and 
the  voice  of  a  dragon. 

And  nith  him,  in  both  a  spiritual  union  and  a 
happy  fellowship,are  144,000  Israelites  without  guile. 
This  expression  denotes  all  his  saints  during  the 
apostacy.  His  open  witnesses  are  few  ;  but  these  are 
comparatively  numerous.  Scattered  over  the  na- 
tions and  among  the  several  churches,  however  great 
their  imperfection,  they  are  all  upon  the  foundation, 
and  stand  in  Sion  along  with  their  Redeemer.  They 
are  thus  preserved  from  the  temptations  and  the 
power  of  the  dragon. 


452  TRUE    CHRISTIANS. 

The  celestial  song,  in  which  their  voices  are  uni- 
ted, is  peculiar  to  themselves.  Its  notes  are  listened 
to  attentively  by  the  enraptured  prophet.  Amidst 
the  intervals  of  the  roaring  of  the  beasts  of  prey,  he 
hears  the  music  of  the  harp.  Deep,  solemn,  and 
awful,  its  sound,  like  that  of  the  rapid  torrents  of 
the  hills  or  loud  peals  of  distant  thunder,  bursts 
upon  our  ears.  This  new  song  of  redeemed  men  is 
sung  with  transports  of  joy  before  the  throne  of  Je- 
hovah, and  in  the  presence  of  the  ministers  and  el- 
ders of  the  church, — the  four  beasts,  and  the  elders.^ 
No  man  coidd  learn  that  song,  but  the  ransomed 
of  the  Lord.  The  melody  of  the  heart  is  pe- 
culiar to  the  saints.  They  alone  have  a  new  heart 
and  a  right  spirit.  With  their  joy  a  stranger  doth  not 
intermeddle. 

I'hese  are  the  members  of  the  invisible  church, 
united  as  one  company  to  the  Redeemer;  although 
not  all  united  in  any  one  visible  communion.  They 
are  found  in  the  several  churches — in  all  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel ;  and  yet  are  only  a  part  of  these 
several  churches. 

There  is  no  visible  ecclesiastical  body,  without 
false  professors ;  and  pious  men  may  be  found  in 
very  corrupt  communities.  This  results  from  the 
nature  of  human  association.  It  i^  the  part  of  a 
few  only,  of  those  who  are  connected  with  any- 
extensive  society,  either  civil  or  religious,  to 
comprehend  the  schemes  and  the  principles  of  its 
leading  members.  The  multitude  are  incapable 
of  sifting  the  motives  of  the  managers,   or  of  cal- 

*  The  four  living  creatures.     See  page  55. 


DESCRIPTION    OF   THE   SAINTS.  4!}^ 

culating  the  consequences  of  their  proceeding". 
Wise  and  virtuous  men  find  it  often  impossible 
to  make  many,  who  co-operate  with  them,  under- 
stand the.wiiole  of  their  views,  or  of  the  means 
which  they  see  cause  to  employ  :  and  it  would,  in 
several  important  concerns,  be  imprudent  to  dis- 
close to  the  public  all  they  know ;  because  such 
developement  might  effectually  prevent  the  accom- 
plishment of  their  benevolent  designs. 

The  ambitious,  the  mercenary,  and  the  deceitful, 
take  advantage  of  the  state  of  human  society,  and 
succeed  in  imposing  upon  the  pious,  the  peaceable, 
and  the  unsuspecting  part  of  the  community,  while 
they  give  an  entirely  wrong  direction  to  the  gene- 
ral mevements  of  the  collective  body. 

Thus,  there  may  be  a  majority  of  virtuous  mem- 
bers in  a  rapidly  declining  church ;  and  these  are 
not  usually  awakened,  either  to  suspicion  or  to 
action,  until  the  evil  is  beyond  the  reach  of  remedy. 
It  remains  for  the  saints,  in  a  church  reduced  to 
such  a  state  as  this,  only  to  bear  with  patience  the 
affliction  for  which  they  mourn,  or  by  a  powerful 
effort  to  tear  asunder  the  innumerable  and  the  strong 
ligaments  by  which  they  are  bound,  even  to  corrupt 
establishments.  Such  an  experiment  is  always 
painful,  and  often  dangerous.  These  considerations^ 
coming  in  aid  of  the  natural  indolence  of  man,  pre- 
vent a  frequent  recurrence  to  it,  except  in  those 
instances,  in  which  strong  passions  are  excited  by 
some  other  cause ;  and  the  schisms  produced  under 
the  influence  of  violent  passions,  do  more  injury 
tlian  honour  to  the  Christian  religion.  Amidst  the 
various  contentions  and  divisions  which  have  from 


454  THUE   CBRISTIAiNi. 

age  to  age  agitated  and  distracted  the  church,  pas- 
sion has  had  more  to  do  than  principle,  pride  has 
been  more  exercised  than  conscience,  and  prejudice 
has  been  consulted  more  than  argument^  Rarely, 
indeed,  do  men  break  off  from  their  ecclesiastical 
connexions,  from  correct  principles,  and  with  a 
view  to  act  as  faithful  witnesses  for  God.  The  few 
cases  of  this  description  which  occur,  make  little 
noise  in  the  world :  and  by  far  the  greater  part  of 
the  pious  people  are  scattered  here  and  there  among 
the  churches  of  the  nations.  "  They  are  not  confi- 
ned to  one  place,  or  to  one  party ;  they  are  not 
visible  as  a  society  distinct  from  nominal  Chris- 
tians."* These  comparatively  hidden^  but  genuine 
disciples,  are  in  number  to  the  open  and  bold  rviU 
nesses  against  the  corruptions  of  the  man  of  sin,  as 
the  144,000  to  two,  or  as  the  7000  Israelites  who 
did  not  bow  the  knee  to  Baaly  to  the  prophets  Elijah 
and  Elisha. 

There  are,  however,  certain  traits  of  character, 
peculiar  to  all  pious  men ;  and  to  these,  as  pointed 
out  in  this  text,  I  solicit  your  attention.  In  giving 
the  evidences  of  a  state  of  grace,  we  have  great 
need  of  discrimination.  Success  in  such  an  under- 
taking does  not  depend  upon  the  multiplicity  of  tests 
applied  to  the  conscience,  so  much  as  upon  the  pre- 
cision of  our  exhibitions.  One  unequivocal  sign  is 
sufficient  to  settlethe  question;  because  w^ere  there 
is  one  saving  grace,  there  is  the  spiritual  life  which 
shall  in  due  time  grow  up  into  perfection.  As  one 
unpardoned  sin  condemns  for  ever,  let  the  character 

*  Frasers  Kev. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF    GODLINESS.  i'jj 

be  otherwise  what  it  may,  so  one  gracious  exercise 
is  certain  evidence  of  the  new-birth,  that  unequivo- 
cal gift  of  Christ  our  Redeemer  and  Saviour.  The 
Son  of  God  neither  condemns  nor  justifies  by  halves. 
Let  the  advocates  of  an  atonement  which  does  not 
expiate,  or  of  an  expiation  which  doQs  not  redeem,  or 
of  a  redemption  which  does  not  save  the  soul,  amuse 
themselves  in  tearing  asunder  the  seamless  robe  of 
the  mediatory  righteousness;  the  scriptures  still 
teach,  that  he  who  spared  not  his  own  Son,  hut  deli- 
vered him  up  to  the  death  for  us  all,  will  with  him  also 
freely  give  us  all  things. 

Those  which  were  redeemed  from  the  earth,  redeem- 
ed from  among  men,*  according  to  this  text,  have  the 
following 

Four  characteristics  of  true  godliness. 

1.  Union  by  faith  to  the  Redeemer,  together  with 
a  profession  of  allegiance  to  the  Lord.  The  144,000 
are  "  with  the  Lamb  on  mount  Sion,  having  his  Fa- 
ther's  name  written  in  their  foreheads.'*  They  are 
in  the  church ;  they  bear  the  mark  of  their  God,  as 
his  peculiar  property,  and  they  avow  their  obedience 
to  him.  Their  highest  privilege,  and  their  distin- 
guishing blessing,  is  to  be  with  him  as  their  living 
Head,  who,  as  the  Lamb  without  spot,  made  atone- 
ment for  them.     Faith  forms  this  union  with  the  Sa- 

*  Verse  3.  o<  nye^xrf^eiei.  Verse  4.  stoi  nyc^ets-Ora-a:.  They 
were  bought.  Purchase  implies  both  contract  and  price  ^aid.  The 
price  is  the  blood  of  the  covenant.  The  covenant  determines  the 
extent  of  the  purchase,  and  of  course  defines  the  atonement.  With- 
out a  coTcaant,  sufferiogs  could  not  make  atonement. 


456  TRUE   CHRISTIANS. 

viour.  Two  distinct  intelligent  beings  cannot  unite 
without  a  mutual  giving  and  receiving  of  the  one  to 
the  other.  The  Son  of  God  is  given  that  we  may 
receive  him.  Faith  "receives  and  rests  upon  him 
alone  for  salvation,  as  he  is  offered  to  us  in  the  gos- 
pel." It  appropriates  the  Saviour  to  the  person,  and 
for  the  salvation  of  the  convinced  sinner.* 

Faith  is  the  first  of  the  Christian  graces.  A 
NOVICE  may  err  in  arrangement;  but  Christian  expe- 
rience gives  to  faith  the  first  place.  We  live  hy  faith, 
we  walk  hy  faith.     He  that  believeth  not  is  condemned, 

*  The  term  appropriation  has  been  disputed.  To  appropriate^ 
say  the  English  Dictionaries,  is,  "  to  consign  to  some  particular 
person  or  use."  The  opposition  to  the  appropriation  of  faith  pro- 
ceeds from  ignorance  of  English,  or  from  heresy  and  impiety. 
By  receiving  the  offered  Saviour,  I  make  that  my  own  which  was 
not  my  own  before.  Not  to  appropriate,  is  not  to  make  the  Saviour 
mine.  It  is  to  reject  him.  It  is  unbelief.  An  unappropriating 
faith,  term  it  as  you  Avill,  is  the  faith  of  devils.  The  man  who  has 
it,  whatever  may  be  his  pretensions,  is  certainly  graceless. 

I  with  pleasure  quote  the  words  of  a  great  man,  and  a  sensible 
divine.  President  Edwards.  He  understood  this  subject — alas!  a 
rare  quality.  "  In  order  to  an  union's  being  established  between 
two  intelligent  active  beings,  ao  as  they  should  be  lookedupon  as  one^ 
there  shouW  be  the  mutual  act  of  both.  What  is  real  in  the  union, 
is  the  foundation  of  what  is  legal.  Conversion  is  that  great  change 
by  which  we  are  brought  from  sin  to  Christ,  and  by  which  we  be- 
come believers  in  him.  Our  minds  must  be  changed,  that  we  may 
believe.  Repentance,  in  its  more  general  abstracted  nature,  is  onl> 
a  sorrow  for  sin,  and  forsaking  of  it,  which  is  a  duty  of  natural 
religion;  but  evangelical  repentance  hath  more  than  this  essential  to 
it ;  a  dependence  of  soul  on  the  Mediator  for  deliverance  from  sin 
is  of  the  essence  of  it.  Justifying  repentance  has  the  nature  of 
faiih.  There  is  some  worship  of  God  in  justifying  repentance;  but 
that  there  is  not  in  any  other  repentance,  but  that  which  has  a 
sense  of,  and  faith  in,  the  divine  mercy." 

Sermon  on  Justif  cation  by  faith  alone. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   GODLINESS.  457 

2.  Purity  in  doctrine  and  worship.  "  These  are 
Ihey  which  were  not  defiled  with  women  i  for  they 
are  virgins.'' 

Idolatry,  will-worship,  and  superstition,  have  al- 
ways been  represented  as  spiritual  adultery.  The 
eye  was  made  for  the  \\g\\i:  and  he  is  blind  who 
cannot  see  the  sun.  Truth  is  spiritual  light,  and 
the  sanctified  intellect  will  receive  the  truth.  To 
open  the  eyes  of  the  understanding,  to  turn  them 
from  darkness  to  light,  is  the  work  of  God's  Spirit. 
And  we  cannot  conceive  of  miracles  of  grace  being 
wrought  by  a  holy  God,  for  the  purpose  of  making 
men  heretics.  If  the  gospel  he  hid,  it  is  hid  to  them 
that  are  lost.  In  vain  they  do  worship  jne,  teaching 
for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men.  God  con- 
verts men  by  the  gosf)el.  Those  who  love  himself, 
will  love  also  his  holy  word.  Although  the  creed 
of  their  churches  should  be  imperfect  or  erroneous ; 
although  their  ministers  should  be  disposed  to  con- 
ceal or  misrepresent  the  truth,  all  the  saints  are 
taught  of  God,  and  are  in  heart  attached  to  his  doc- 
trine and  his  worship.  Soul-satisfaction  in  the  pro- 
jnises  and  precepts  of  the  Saviour,  and  a  chaste  af- 
fection for  all  his  ordinances,  are  essential  to  the  vir- 
gin daughter  of  Zion.  "  They  called  the  church  a 
virgin,"  says  Hegisippus,  "  when  it  was  not  corrupt- 
ed by  vain  doctrines."  It  is  impossible  that  a  re- 
newed man  under  the  direction  of  God's  Spirit, 
should  not  take  delight  in  the  doctrines  of  his  pre- 
cious word,  whensoever  they  are  understood. 
3  K 


ibH  TRUE   CHRISTIANS, 

3.  Suffering  for  ChrisVs  sake.  "  These  are  they 
which  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth." 
Tliey  take  up  their  cross,  and  follow  him. 

Suffering  is  the  most  difficult  part  of  evangelical 
obedience ;  but  the  grace  necessary  for  it  is  pro- 
vided for  all  the  saints.  To  you  it  is  given  in  the 
behalf  of  Christ,  not  only  to  believe  in  him,  but  also 
to  suffer  for  his  sake.  His  own  sufferings  were  the 
most  trying  part  of  his  humiliation ;  and  he  set  us 
the  example  of  enduring  reproach,  loss  of  worldly 
interest,  toil,  and  death,  for  the  gospel. 

In  vain  they  think  themselves  converted,  who 
dream  of  joy,  and  relate  their  superficial  and  delu- 
sory experience;  but  would  not  suffer  inconve- 
nience for  the  cause  of  true  religion.  Not  so  those 
who  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their  goods,  know- 
ing that  they  had  in  heaven  a  more  enduring  substance. 
He  who  will  save  his  life  shall  lose  it ;  and  he  who 
loseth  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it. 

4.  Uprightness.  "  And  in  their  mouth  was  found 
no  guile,  for  they  are  without  fault  before  the 
throne  of  God."  Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom 
is  no  guile.  Speaking  without  deceit,  the  saints  had 
rather  be  charged  with  an  honest  and  frank  impru- 
dence, if  men  choose  to  call  it  so,  than  with  in- 
trigue and  deceitful  management.  Act  as  he  will, 
and  talk  as  he  will  about  religion ;  let  him  relate 
his  sorrows,  and  describe  his  ecstacies ;  let  him  des- 
cant upon  his  benevolence,  and  set  forth  the  beauty 
cf  virtue  with  affected  fervour,  and  with  facti- 
tious eloquence;   still  the  deceitful  man  cannot  be 


RELIGIOUS   REVIVALS.  459 

a  Christian,  or  adinitted  among  them  who  are  the 
Jirst-fruHs  unlo  God  and  to  the  Lamb. 

Thesp  rliarnrten^^lics  are  not  matters  of  doubtful 
disputation.  They  are  plain,  and  easily  applied  to 
the  heart.  They  are  furnished  by  the  vision  of  ,Tohn, 
and  happy  are  they  to  whom  they  are  applicable. 
The  pious  people,  throughout  the  several  parts  of 
the  Christian  world,  and  in  the  different  branches  of 
the  Christian  ciiurch,  will  recognize  in  reading  this 
part  of  the  sacred  volume,  their  own  character  de- 
scribed in  it  to  their  comfort;  and  again,  they  join  in 
the  song  of  the  ransomed,  and  are  transported  with 
the  unutterable  deliglits  of  the  heavenly  harmony. 

We  proceed  to 

The  history  of  the  revivals  of  religion. 

The  phrase,  revival  of  religion,  by  its  recent  ap- 
plication among  the  churches,  especially  in  Ameri- 
ca, has  been  diverted  from  its  proper  use.  It  is  now 
generally  employed  to  denote  the  anxieties  of  the 
ungodly  to  escape  condemnation,  and  the  excitement 
which  accompanies  the  first  stages  of  conversion. 
Yea,  provided  the  human  passions  are  any  way 
aroused  about  religious  things,  however  great  the 
ignorance,  the  heresy,  the  confusion,  and  the  fanati- 
cism, which  accompany  and  characterize  the  commo- 
tion, it  is  styled  a  revival  of  religion,  both  by  design- 
ing and  undiscerning  professors.  Such  is  the  prone- 
ness  of  deluded  men  to  parade  and  clamour,  and  so 
great  the  prejudice  against  the  light  and  tlie  order 
of  true  religion,  that  the  most  intelligent,  humble, 
self-denied,    and    indefatigable    Christians,    are   in 


460  TRUE   CHRISTIANS. 

danger,  even  in  this  age  of  peculiar  claims  to  libe- 
rality, to  have  their  own  piety  called  in  question,  if 
they  should  lisp  a  doubt,  or  wait  for  evidence,  re- 
specting the  character  of  such  revivals.  Nay,  should 
hundreds  of  hopeful  converts  be  added  to  the  church 
without  noise  or  tumult,  it  may  pass  unnoticed.  Ex- 
travagance seems  to  be  essential  to  a  modern  revival. 

You,  brethren,  I  trust,  have  not  so  learned  Christ. 
In  faithfulness  to  the  testimonies  of  your  God,  you 
will  run  the  risk:  you  will  try  the  spirits:  And  then, 
if  any  man  shall  say  to  you,  Lo,  here  is  Christ,  or,  la, 
he  is  there;  believe  him  not;  for  false  Christs,  and 
false  prophets  shall  rise,  and  shall  show  signs  and 
wonders,  to  seduce  if  it  were  possible,  even  the  elect.  But 
take  ye  heed:  behold,  Ihave  foretold  you  all  things.^ 

The  term  revival,  is,  however,  scriptural;  and  it 
is  dear  to  the  saints.  The  very  abuse  of  it,  by 
which  men  have  so  often  succeeded  in  deceiving  the 
unwary,  and  in  recommending  erroneous  doctrines, 
giving  out  that  they  are  blessed  of  God  for  the  con- 
version of  sinners,  is  itself  evidence  of  its  import- 
ance.   It  is  our  duty  to  redeem  it  to  its  proper  use. 

To  revive,  is  "  to  bring  again  to  life,  or  recall  from 
a  state  of  languor."  It  always  implies,  that  its  sub- 
ject had  life  or  vigour  formerly;  and  that  such  life 
or  vigour  is  again  communicated,  or  excited  into 
action.  It  never  denotes  the  first  communication  of 
the  vital  principle.!  A  religious  revival  is  either 
personal  or  social.  When  personal,  it  denotes  the 
removal  of  temptations  and  suppression  of  innate 
corruption,  together  with  the  restoration  of  the  soul 

*  Mark  xiii.  21—23.        f  2  Kings  xiii.  21.     Gen.  xlv.  21. 
Rom.  vii.  9.  and  xiv.  9. 


RELIGIOUS  REVIVAL);.  461, 

io  the  path  of  righteousness,  of  pleasantness,  and  of 
peace:  but  it  never  denotes  regeneration,  conver- 
sion, or  tlie  first  convictions  of  sinners.*  When  so- 
cialy  appertaining  to  a  particuhir  congregation,  or  to 
an  ecclesiastical  community,  a  revival  of  religion 
does  not  exclude  the  idea  of  additional  converts,  be- 
cause the  increase  of  the  church  is  matter  of  joy  to 
the  whole  body;  but  the  true  idea  of  a  revival  of 
religion  in  a  church,  is  the  restoration  of  christian 
community  to  a  state  of  activity,  of  order,t  of  spi- 
ritual joy,t  growth,^  and  fruitfulness,  in  the  know- 
ledge and  service  of  our  God. 

Indolence,  disorder,  negligence,  immorality,  or  su- 
perstition, indicate  a  declining  state  of  religion  in 
the  church :  but  the  means  of  revival,  are  an  able 
faithful  ministry,  the  powerful  preaching  of  the 
whole  counsel  of  God,  and  the  spirit  of  prayer  de- 
scending upon  the  saints  who  belong  to  its  fel- 
lowship. 

Three  epochs,  distinguished  for  a  revival  of  the 
work  of  God  after  the  great  apostacy,  have  been  pre- 
dicted in  this  chapter :  and  to  each  of  these  I  request 
your  attention.  They  are  ushered  into  our  notice, 
under  the  symbol  of  so  many  angels. 

The  first  angel  of  general  revival. 

Verses  6,  7.  And  I  saw  another  angel  Jiy  in  the 
tiiidst  of  heaven  J  having  the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach 
unto  them  that  dwell  on  the  earthy  and  to  every  nation, 

PsR.  cxxxviii.  7.     f  Ho3.  vi.  2.    Ezra  !x,  8.    f  Pga.  Ixxxv. 
$  Hos.  sir.  7. 


462  TRUE    CHRISTIANS- 

and  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  saying  with  a  loud 
voice.  Fear  God,  and  give  glory  to  him;  for  the  hour  of 
his  judgment  is  come:  and  worship  him  that  made  hea- 
ven, and  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the  fountains  of 
waters. 

Angel  is  a  term  of  office,  and  represents  the  col- 
lective body  of  messengers  from  God  to  his  people 
— pious  ministers.  Flying  is  the  symbol  of  speed. 
Heaven  is  the  church.  The  emrlasting  gospel  is  the 
message  wliich  the  angel  bears;  and  the  epithet 
everlasting  not  only  denotes  its  origin  in  the  eternal 
covenant,  but  also  its  perpetuity  in  the  church  in  de- 
spite of  the  antichristian  apostacy.  To  them  that 
dwell  on  the  earth,  the  population  of  the  Latin  empire 
of  every  description,  this  message  is  delivered.  And 
the  loud  voice  of  the  preacher,  is  the  natural  expres- 
sion of  his  earnestness  and  authority.  The  peculiar 
character  of  the  ministry  of  this  first  revival,  is  to 
direct  men  to  the  true  object  of  worship,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  multiplied  idolatries  of  the  Roman  super- 
stition— Fear  God,  worship  him  that  made  heaven 
and  earth;  and  to  conclude  our  exposition  of  these 
words,  the  time  in  which  this  dispensation  is  made  to 
the  church,  is  denoted  by  the  phrase,  the  hour  of  his 
judgment  is  come.  This  evidently  cannot  apply  to 
the  last  judgment  ;  for  other  events  of  a  penal  cha- 
racter are  pointed  out  by  the  succeeding  angels. 

Let  us  endeavour  to  ascertain  the  period  of  this 
prophecy. 

It  has  been  applied  to  the  age  of  Charlemagne  hy 
bishop  Newton:  but  that  excellent  Commentator 
forgot,  when  he  gave  this  interpretation,  the  nature 


FIRST    GF,NERAL   REVIVAL.  4G3 

of  the  everlasting  gospel.  Indeed,  it  is  upon  Ihifl 
quarter  the  bishop  is  most  apt  to  err.  lie  was  bet- 
ter acquainted  with  almost  every  other  scriptural 
subject  than  with  the  principles  of  the  gospel.  It 
is  preposterous  to  make  the  head  of  the  beast  iden- 
tify with  ihe  Jii/ing  angel, 

INIr.  Faber  applies  this  prediction  to  the  time  of 
Luther;  but  his  error  consists  in  tiirowing  together 
into  one  great  event  all  the  three  distinct  predictions 
before  us,  by  referring  them  all  to  the  reformation 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  Whatever  diversity  of 
opinion  may  have  been  then  indulged,  and  whatever 
time  may  have  elapsed  after  the  commencement  of 
the  work  of  reform  in  one  country  before  it  extend- 
ed to  another,  still  the  reformation  ought  to  be  view- 
ed as  owe  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  true  religion. 

It  is  in  fact  the  work  assigned  to  the  second  angel 
of  religious  revival.  Mr.  Faber,  however,  inter- 
prets ihe  first  angel,  of  Luther  and  the  Lutheran 
churches ;  the  second  of  Calvin  and  the  churches  call- 
ed reformed ;  the  thirds  of  the  insular  church  of 
England.* 

Dr.  Scott  in  his  Commentary  appears  to  me  to 
have  approached  nearer  to  the  true  interpretation  of 
the  three  angels  than  any  of  his  predecessors  ;  and  to 
have  exactly  pointed  out  the  period  of  history  pre- 
dicted in  the  prophecy  respecting  the  Jlrst.     "  The 

*  Who  occupies  to  the  church  of  England,  the  relation  which 
Luther  and  Calvin  are  saitl  to  hold  to  the  Lutheran  and  reformed  ? 
Who  is  s3'mbolized  by  the  an^cl?  whether  the  first  head  of  angelic 
purity,  Henry  VIII.  or  the  female  hesul,  the  Lady  Elizabeth;  Mr. 
Faher  does  not  say.  The  concession,  that  Calvin  was  the  secon<T 
angel  of  reform,  is  however  unexpected. 


464  TRUE    CHRISTIANS. 

three  angels,"  he  remarks,  "were  emblematical 
heralds  of  the  progressive  reformation  from  popery. 
— We  may  therefore,  I  apprehend,  interpret  this 
first  angel,  or  herald,  of  those  who  first  publicly 
erected  the  standard  of  reformation,  and  who  con- 
tended for  the  everlasting  gospel  of  Christ,  in  op- 
position to  all  the  innovations  and  usurpations  of  the 
beast,  his  image,  and  the  false  prophet.  This  ho- 
nour seems  to  belong  to  the  Waldenses  and  Albi- 
genses,  w4io  had  the  true  gospel  among  them ; 
avowed  its  everlasting  obligation  and  excellency ; 
opposed  it  to  the  authority  of  popes,  councils,  and 
persecuting  princes :  declared  the  pope  to  be  anti- 
christ; propagated  their  doctrines  with  zeal  and 
success,  and  ifiultiplied  into  a  vast  number  of 
churches.  And  after  immense  slaughter  had  been 
made  of  them  by  persecutions  and  bloody  wars, 
they  still  retained  their  tenets ;  and  being  dispersed 
into  other  countries,  they  rapidly  carried  the  ever- 
lasting gospel  with  them;  so  that  the  Lollards  in 
England,  and  the  Bohemians,  and  many  others  in 
different  places,  seem  to  have  principally  learned  the 
gospel  from  them ;  and  the  reformation  itself  appears 
to  have  sprung  from  the  seed  which  they  sowed,  and 
watered  with  rivers  of  their  blood." 

The  application  of  this  text  to  modern  missions  is 
every  way  out  of  place.  Missions  to  the  heathen 
have  existed  in  every  age ;  but  they  are  not  at  all 
opposed  to  the  beast  in  the  sense  of  this  chapter. 
The  work  of  all  the  angels  lies  in  Christendom. 

The  Jirst  angel  is  the  herald  of  that  astonishing 
revival  which  history  discribes  as  effected  by  the  re- 


FIK'^T  CF.XFRAL  REVIVAL.  4G,'; 

slorers  of  sound  doiliino,  and  primitive  order  in  the 
western  empire,  llie  Waldenses  and  tlieir  coadjutors 
among  the  nations,  down  to  tlie  time  of  John  Huss 
and  the  famous  Jerome. 

It  was  in  the  year  1180  that  this  revival  commen- 
ced among  those  who  for  upwards  of  .OOO  years,  had 
been  distinguished  by  their  dissent  from  the  estab- 
lished rcHirion  of  the  Latin  empire.     Hitherto  the  vau- 
Dois,  as  they  were  called,  from  their  place  of  resi- 
dence in  the  valleys,  were  comparatively  unnoticed; 
but  now  their  leaven  of  sound  doctrine  began  to 
pervade  the  surrounding  churches.     The  wealth  and 
the  talents  of  Peter  of  Lyons,  formerly  an  opulent 
merchant,  and   afterwards   an  eminently  successful 
instrument  of  good  to  Zion,  by  the  blessing  of  God, 
gave  a  new  spring  to  their  exertions.      He  was  call- 
ed Waldus,  or  Vaido,  on  account  of  his  espousing 
the  cause  of  that  obscure  people.     Several  histori- 
ans, and  among  others.  Dr.  Mosheim,  have  mistaken 
him  for  the  founder  of  the  system  which    he   was 
the  happy  means  of  reviving.     Dr.  Maclaine,  from 
the  best  authorities,  corrects  this  error :  And  all  ac- 
knowledge, "  that  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  that 
religion  which  these  good  men  taught,  the  spotless 
innocence  which  shone  forth  in  their  lives  and  ac- 
tions, and  the  noble  contempt  of  riches  and  honours, 
which  was  conspicuous  in  the  whole  of  their  conduct 
and  conversation,  appeared  so  engaging  to  all  such 
as  had  any  sense  of  true  piety,  tliat  the  number  of 
their  disciples  and  followers  increased  from  day  to 
day.       They  accordingly  formed  religious  assem- 
blies, first  in  France,  and  afterwards  in  Lom))artl} . 
3  L 


^^^  TRUE    CHRISTIANS. 

from  whence  tliey  propagated  their  cause  through- 
out the  other  provinces  of  Europe  with  incredible 
rapidity.  The  sincere  piety  and  exemplary  conduct 
of  the  Waldenses,  show  plainly  enough  that  their 
intention  was  to  revive  the  piety  and  manners  of  the 
primitive  times,  and  to  combat  the  vices  of  the  cler- 
gy, and  the  abuses  that  had  been  introduced  int© 
tile  worship  and  discipline  of  the  church."* 


The  second  general  revival. 


Verse  8.  And  there  followed  another  angely  sayings 
Babylon  is  fallen,  is  fallen,  thai  great  city,  because 
she  made  all  nations  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of 
her  fornication. 

As  the  angel  of  the  preceding  paragraph,  although 
Ihe  first  of  the  three  introduced  in  this  connexion, 
was  called  another,  to  distinguish  him  from  the  angel 
of  the  covenant,  the  Lamb  at  the  head  of  the 
144,000,  so  is  this  second  angel  termed  another,  to 
distinguish  him  from  the  first.  I  have  elsewheref 
shown,  that  the  term  angel  very  aptly  symbolizes  a 
community  employed  in  its  united  character,  for  some 
special  service  under  the  providence  of  God.  The 
principal  object  of  that  religious  excitement  which 
was  given  to  Christendom  by  the  ministry  of  the 
Waldenses,  and  which  is  pointed  out  in  the  preceding 
verses,  was  simply  the  restoration  of  purity  in  doc- 
trine and  worship,  and  of  piety  in  the  room  of  life- 
less forms  and  unmeaning  ceremonies.  The  work 
of  this  second  angel  is  an  additional  revival,  and,' 
including  all  the  previous  attainments,  aims  at  tbr 
^  Mosh.  Vol.  III.  page  118—121.  j  Page  1CT= 


SECOND  GENERAL  REVIV.VL.  407 

actual  overthrow  of  tlie  cliurch  of  Rome.  The 
former,  predicted  /Mr/»-/«e«/.v;  this,  predicts  the  degra- 
dation of  the  haughty  foe — Babj/lon  is  fallen,  is  fallen. 

Tlie  ancient  capital  of  C  hahlea,  the  literal  Baby- 
lon, had  long  since  been  laid  in  ruins.  The  symboli- 
cal Babylon,  called  the  great  cili/,  is  the  Roman 
Catholic  church,  the  mother  of  harlots,  of  the  se- 
venteenth chapter.  This  great  adulteress,  instead  of 
dispensing  to  men  the  cup  of  salvation,  by  an  exhi- 
bition of  tlie  gospel,  held  out  the  cup  of  intoxica- 
tion, as  an  excitement  to  the  baser  passions.  It  is 
full  of  the  wine  of  wrath.  She  seduced  the  nations 
to  apostacy,  and  the  prostitution  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion became  general  over  Europe. 

The  protestant  reformation,  as  one  great  event,  is 
thus  characterized.  It  is  the  second  general  revival 
of  true  religion.  It  effectually  degraded  the  Roman 
superstition ;  and  it  gave  an  excitement  to  talents 
and  to  piety  which  was  felt  throughout  the  world. 
The  work  commenced  under  the  ministry  of  Zuin- 
glius,  in  Zurich,  Switzerland,  in  the  year  l.'ilG. 
This  illustrious  reformer,  wliose  name  seems  to  have 
been  too  generally  forgotten,  had  very  noble  and 
extensive  ideas  of  a  general  reformation,  and  com- 
municated them  to  his  people  at  the  very  time  that 
Luther  retained  almost  the  whole  system  of  popery, 
indulgences  excepted.  His  extensive  learning,  and 
uncommon  sagacity,  accompanied  with  the  most  he* 
roic  intrepidity,  tempered  by  the  greatest  modera- 
tion, rendered  him  perhaps  beyond  comparison  the 
brightest  ornament  of  the  protestant  cause.*     The 

'  Mosli.  Vol.  IV.  pages  47,  48.     Dr.  Maclaine's  Note. 


468  TRUE    CHRISTIANS. 

names  of  Luther  and  Calvin  are  sufficiently  cele- 
brated in  history ;  and  the  magnitude  of  the  work 
which  they,  their  coadjutors,  and  successors,  accom- 
plished, is  universally  acknowledged. 

These  eminent  heralds  of  the  cross,  proclaimed  the 
fall  of  the  mystical  Babylon  with  the  same  certainty 
as  the  prophet  Isaiah  predicted  that  of  the  ancient 
city  of  the  same  name,  and  almost  in  the  same  words. 
Isa.  xxi.  9.  And  he  answered  and  said,  Babylon  is 
fallen,  is  fallen  ;  and  all  the  graven  images  of  her  gods 
he  hath  broken  unto  the  ground. 

The  churches  of  the  reformation  have  since  their 
establishment,  however,  undergone  a  great  change 
for  the  worse.  Religion  languishes.  Corruption 
abounds.  There  is  need  of  a  subsequent  revival. 
A  third  great  event  is  predicted,  which  we  consider 
as  yet  to  come.  Let  us  turn,  my  brethren,  your  at- 
tention to  it,  in  hope  that  it  is  not  very  remote 
from  the  time  in  which  we  live. 

The  third  general  revival. 

Verses  9 — 13.  And  the  third  angel  followed  them, 
saying  with  a  loud  voice,  if  any  man  worship  the  beast 
and  his  image,  and  receive  his  mark  in  his  forehead, 
or  iri  his  hand,  kc.  kc. 

There  is  a  peculiar  emphasis  upon  verse  13th. 
All  who  die  in  the  Lord  at  all  times  are  blessed;  and 
their  work  and  labour  of  love  shall  not  be  forgot- 
ten :  but  those  who  die  after  the  work  of  the  third 
herald  of  general  reformation  shall  have  commenced, 
not  only  enter  into  rest  themselves,  but  the  holy 
work  of  restoring  religion  shall  immediately  sue- 


THIRD  GENERAL  REVIVAL.  469 

ceed,  and  be  estahlislicd  in  rest  for  ever — ctx.o?^ki  fxit'* 
oMTuv — Shall  follow  nilh  than. 

This  is,  in  fact,  that  great  reform,  wliich  will  usher 
in  the  millennium.  Heie  then  shall  the  patience  of 
the  saints  termhiate.  Their  sufferings  speedily  end ; 
and  they  that  keep  the  commandments  oj  God  and 
the  faith  of  Jesxis,  shall  at  the  removing  of  those 
things  that  are  shaken,  receive  a  kingdom  which 
cannot  be  moved. 

It  is  the  peculiar  character  of  the  ministry  of  the 
church  of  God,  during  this  great  work,  to  pronounce 
the  judgments  of  heaven  upon  the  whole  system  of 
Latin  superstition.  They  attack  the  evil  at  its  root. 
They  are  sensible  by  long  and  painful  experience 
that  while  the  civil  power  is  permitted  to  prostitute 
religion,  religion  must  be  corrupt.  They  take  the 
secular  beast  himself  by  the  horns,  and  they  expose 
to  the  population  of  the  empire  the  crime  and  the 
danger  of  supporting  him. 

The  time  to  temporize  is  past.  United  by  one 
spirit,  the  Christians  of  the  old  Latin  world  are  about 
to  feel  their  power,  to  act  in  concert,  and  become 
terrible  to  their  enemies  as  an  army  with  ban- 
ners. 

The  kings  of  the  nations  will  have  previously 
weakened  themselves  by  their  contentions  and  their 
wars.  The  people  will  burst  from  their  chains,  and 
dissolve  tiie  bonds  by  which  they  have  been  bound ; 
but  war  alone  can  produce  no  advantage.  There 
may  be  battles,  and  victories,  and  revolutions,  and 
deeds  of  patriotism,  and  heroism,  and  glory,  and  yet 
the  people  still  are  oppressed:  they  remain  ignorant; 
the  conqueror  and  the  conquered  are  alike  immoral 


470  TRUE   CHRISTIAKS. 

and  impious.  Now,  however,  knowledge  is  progres- 
sive. Restrictions  upon  the  industry,  the  persons, 
and  the  enterprize  of  men,  must  have  an  end.  The 
civilized  world  has  received  an  excitement  terrible, 
in  its  ultimate  effects,  to  all  tyrannical  power.  Co- 
temporaneously  with  the  judgments  which  fall  upon 
the  empire  of  the  man  of  sin  for  its  final  ruin,  the 
Lord  God  will  pour  out  his  Spirit  upon  his  saints. 
The  day  of  revival  is  about  to  come.  Religion 
alone  can  subdue  the  human  passions,  and  prepare 
the  reign  of  peace.  Its  ministers  will  raise  a  voice 
which  shall  shake  thrones  of  iniquity  that  have  no 
fellowship  with  God,  and  constrain  the  kings  of  the 
earth  to  boAV  before  Immanuel.  All  corrupt  esta- 
blishments shall  fall,  never  to  rise ;  and  instead  of 
a  state  priesthood  inculcating  obedience  to  the  beasty 
the  dragon,  and  his  horns,  the  messengers  of  the  gos- 
pel shall  eflfectually  withdraw,  from  the  powers  that 
oppose  religion,  the  allegiance  of  their  former  sub- 
jects. Instead  of  thundering  from  the  pulpit 
anathemas  against  those  who  oppose  lawless  power, 
the  third  angel  cries  out.  If  any  man  worship  the  beast, 
and  his  image,  and  receive  his  mark  in  his  forehead,  or 
in  his  hand,  the  same  shall  drink  of  the  wine  of  the 
wrath  of  God,  which  is  po^ired  out  without  mixture  in- 
to the  cup  of  his  indignution. 

All  who  continue  to  have  the  mark  of  the  beast, 
shall  drink  of  the  imbittered  powerful  wine,  y.tKoi^i<rfj,iVii 
xK^otl><.  This  wine  of  wrath,  is  oi-A^oilov,  having  no 
diluting  liquor  added  to  it,  to  reduce  its  strength. 
It  is  KiKx^io-fAivov  rendered  stronger  by  the  mixture  of 
intoxicating  ingredients.*     Thus   shall  the  wicked 

*  Isa.  li.  17—25.     Psa.  Ixxv.  8. 


THIRD  GENERAL  REVIVAL.  471 

ONE,  2  Thess.  ii.  8.  come  to  his  end — IVJwm  the  Lord 
shall  consume  with  the  S^iirit  of  his  mouthy  and  shall 
destroy  ivith  the  hrii^htness  of  his  coming. 

The  prophecy  completes  the  history  of  true 
Christians,  in  the  preceding  passages,  and  now 
turns  to  the  history  of  the  judgments  which  put  an 
end  to  the  Latin  empire — It  is  tlie  third  /I'o.^ 

The  judgment  of  the  harvest. 

Verses  14 — 16.  And  I  looked,  and,  heholdy  a  wkite 
cloudy  and  upon  the  cloud  one  sat  like  unto  the  Son  of 
many  having  on  his  head  a  golden  crorvny  and  in  his 
hand  a  sharp  sickle,  &c.  &c. 

The  EARTH,  verses  15,  16.  is  the  Latin  empire. 
The  HARVEST  of  this  earth  is  said  to  be  ripe,  when 
the  system  is  fit  for  judgment.  And  this  of  course 
is  the  time  to  reap.  When  the  cup  of  their 
iniquity  is  full,  then  is  the  time  of  punishment. 
The  harvest,  in  prophetic  style,  is  the  symbol  of 
destroying  judgments.  It  signifies  indeed  in  some 
cases,  the  final  separation  of  the  tares  from  the  wheat, 
and  gathering  the  saints  home  like  a  shock  of  corn 
ripe  in  its  season.  But  as  the  vintage  in  this  chapter 
is  expressly  said,  verse  19,  to  refer  to  the  wrath  of 
God,  and  is  a  continuation  of  the  season  of  harvest, 
the  harvest  itself  must  be  explained  also  of  wrath. 
The  words  of  the  prediction  too,  convey  the  idea  of 
judgments.  They  are  borrowed  from  Joel  iii.  13. 
I  sit  to  judge  all  the  heathen  round  about.  Put  ye  in. 
fhr  sickh\  for  the  harvest  is  ripe:  come,  grf  i/oit.  down; 

Sep  Pacje  217. 


472  TRUE   CHRISTIANS. 

for  the  press  is  fully  the  fats  overflow  ;  for  their  wicked- 
ness is  grecU. 

He  who  executes  this  judgment,  is  Messiah.  The 
Father  judgeth  no  man ;  but  hath  committed  all 
judgment  unto  the  Son.  Behold,  he  sitteth  upon  a 
cloud  as  King  of  kings,  having  on  his  head  a  goldhn 
crown,  and  in  his  hand  the  instruments  of  vengeance, 
a  sharp  sickle.  The  cloud  which  he  makes  his 
throne,  is  white,  to  denote  the  purity  of  his  dis- 
pensations. Messiah  is  holy  in  punishing  the  na- 
tions ;  and  although  the  harvest  is  a  day  of  distress 
to  the  wicked,  it  is  a  bright  cloud  to  the  church. 
It  is  desirable  on  account  of  its  happy  consequences. 
The  angel  from  the  temple,  the  ministry  of  tlie  true 
church,  prays  earnestly  for  the  exhibitions  of  this 
destroying  judgment.  This  prayer  is  addressed  to 
M^essiah,  and  indicates  the  anxiety,  which  faithful 
ministers  feel,  for  tlie  overthrow  of  antichristian 
power.  They  also  observe  the  signs  of  the  times, 
and  declare,  the  time  is  come  for  thee  to  reap:  for  the 
harvest  of  the  earth  is  ripe. 

This,  brethren,  is  the  time  of  the  harvest.  We 
have  represented  the  revival  of  the  third  angel 
as  still  to  come,  allhough  appearances  indicate  that 
it  is  near  at  hand.  The  prophecy  of  the  harvest 
succeeds  in  the  order  of  arrangement,  that  which 
respects  the  third  reformation,  because  the  proper 
history  of  true  Christians  ought  not  to  be  unneces- 
sarily interrupted :  but  inasmuch,  as  that  very  his- 
tory declared  the  ruin  of  the  foe,  the  event  de- 
scribed in  the  following  verses,  may  not  only  be  con- 
sidered cotemporaneous  with  the  reformation  itself; 


THE    HARVEST.  47!? 

but  may  in  i(s  origin,  somewhat  precede  the  work 
to  which  it  is  subservient.  Tlie  accomplishment  of 
the  prediction  will  be  found  in  the  events  which  grow 
out  of  the  French  Revolution.  Very  few  of  these 
events  are  as  yet  fully  disclosed.  Ikittles,  and  blood, 
and  ruin,  and  death,  have  undoubtedly  been  already 
abundant;  but  even  in  these  respects,  we  have  seen  no 
more  than  the  beginning  of  sorrows.  Tiie  work  is  not 
at  an  end,  though  Germany  should  be  reconquered  ; 
though  Holland,  and  Switzerland,  and  Portugal,  and 
Spain,  be  restored  to  rank  among  the  nations ;  and 
though  France  itself  should  be  partitioned  among  the 
victorious  allies.  No :  the  work  of  overturning  is 
only  in  its  commencement.  The  King  of  kings  has 
in  his  hand  a  sharp  sickle.  The  kings  of  the  nations 
shall  be  cut  down.  The  whole  symbolical  earth 
must  be  effectually  reaped. 

The  fate  of  battles,  the  boundaries  of  empire,  the 
struggles  of  crowned  heads,  the  vicissitudes  of  vic- 
tory, are,  apart  from  the  great  principles  of  christian 
social  order,  unworthy  of  a  place  in  the  Apocalyptical 
prophecies:  apart  from  their  relation  to  morality, 
they  are  of  no  greater  estimation  in  God's  sight,  and 
of  no  more  interest  to  the  church  of  Christ,  than  the 
contentions  of  ephemeral  insects. 

It  is  in  the  history  of  the  seven  vials,  we  have  a 
full  developement  of  the  plagues  which  are  inci- 
dentally noticed  in  this  and  in  other  predictions.  In 
that  connexion  we  shall  have  a  better  opportunity, 
than  is  now  offered,  of  developing  the  moral  causes, 
and  the  moral  tendency,  of  the  present  convulsion? 
3  ]\I 


474  THE  ^IIVTAGIii. 

of  the  civilized  world.     Let  lis,  in  the  meaiitiin^^ 
pass  on  to  a  consideration  of 


The   Vintage. 


Verses  17—20. — And  the  angel  thrust  in  his  sickle 
into  the  earth,  and  gathered  the  vine  of  the  earthy  and 
cast  it  into  the  great  wine-press  of  the  wrath  of  God, 
&c.  &c. 

Out  of  the  temple,  verse  17,  the  apostle  sav/  in  vision,- 
another  angel  coming  forth  with  a  sharp  sickle.    The 
ministers  of  the  church,  influenced  by  the  same  spirit 
which  caused  their  predecessors  to  pray  to  the  Re- 
deemer that  he  might  reap  the  harvest,  find  on  this 
occasion  a  work  suited  to  their  own  character  to  per 
form.     The  Son  of  man,  at  their  solicitations,  pu 
nishes  the  nations  by  breaking  the  potsherds  of  the 
earth  against  each  other,  without  permitting   the 
ministers  of  peace  to  take  an  active  part  in  these 
deeds  of  blood :  but  they  are  directed  to  gather  the 
clusters  of  the  vine,  and  to  cast  them  into  the  wine- 
press,   that    they   may  be    trodden    by    Messiah. 
They  are  called  to  this  duty  by  the  angel  which  hath 
power  over  fire.     The  fire  of  the  altar,  which  con- 
sumed the  sacrifice,  is  the  symbol  of  diving,  justice 
demanding  and  receiving  atonement.    The  two  wit- 
nesses by  their  prayers  and  their  sermons.  Rev.  xi.  5. 
had  power  to  send  fire  from  their  mouth  to  devour 
the  adversary;  and  they  in  the  present  case,  which  ib' 
their  last  contest  with  the  antichristian  empire,  call 
upon  their  cotemporaries  to  the  vintage.    They  de- 
nounce the  judgment  which  now  admits  not  of  delay 


THE   VINTAGE.  47;"> 

It  is  the  vine  of  the  earth,  to  which  tlie  angel  with 
the  sickle  is  callpd.  The  church  of  the  symbolical 
earth,  apostate  from  the  faith,  like  degenerate  Israel, 
is  the  vine  of  Sodom.  Deut.  xxxii.  32.  Their  grapes 
are  grapes  of  gall,  and  their  clusters  are  bitterness. 
All  the  corrupt  ecclesiastical  systems  of  the  Latin 
world,  are  pointed  out  as  the  vine  of  the  earth,  to  dis- 
tinguish them  from  the  true  vine:  and  the  gathering 
of  the  clusters  into  the  wine-press,  by  the  angel  of  the 
temple,  under  the  superintendency  of  the  Son  of 
man,  indicates,  the  complete  separation  which  is 
about  to  be  made  by  the  exertions  of  faithful  min^ 
ters,  giving  up  to  their  final  ruin  the  apo^lrate 
churches  of  Christendom. 

Church  and  state  are  combined  in  the  antichristian 
apostacy.  The  harvest,  first  in  order,  and  now  going 
on,  falls  more  immediately  on  the  secular  power,  but 
greatly  affects  the  ecclesiastical  interests  of  the  em- 
pire. It  especially  denotes  those  revolutions  of  go- 
vernment, which  turn  the  horns  of  the  beast  against 
the  mother  of  harlots.*  The  vintage,  which  suc- 
ceeds the  harvest,  and  is  a  much  more  dreadful  judg- 
ment, symbolizes  more  immediately  the  destruction 
of  corrupt  churches ;  but  will  necessarily  involve  in 
irretrievable  ruin  all  who  make  a  common  (;ause 
with  the  vine  of  the  earth :  for  the  beast  and  the 

I  France,  it  has  l)een  correctly  observed  by  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished and  intelligent  men  of  our  own  country,  tl)e  Rev.  Dr. 
Dwight,  President  of  Yale  College,  "  France,  under  the  Ile|)ubU- 
can  government,  and  under  that  of  the  present  emperor,  has  done 
more  toward  the  accomplishment  of  this  work,  a  thousand  times 
more,  than  all  mankind  beside  "  Discourse  on  the  National  Fast. 
Aug.  20,  1812. 


47b  THE   VINTAGE. 

false  prophet,  and  all  who  worship  the  image  of  the 

beast,  shall  be  destroyed;   the  great  men  and  the 

jiiighty  men,  the  kings  and  the  captains,  and  all  both 

free  and  bond,  both  small  and  great,  shall  give  their 

flesh  to  be  meat  for  the  fowls  of  heaven. 

The  wine-press  was  usually  at  some  distance  with- 
out the  city;  and  the  advocates  of  the  apostacy  are 
now  more  evidently  without  the  pale  of  the  church, 
than  ever  they  were  at  any  former  period.  Never, 
until  the  time  of  the  third  angel,  was  eternal  death 
expressly  denounced  in  scripture  upon  every  advo- 
cate of  antichristianism :  and  it  is  only  at  the  time 
of  the  vintage  that  the  saints  are  completely  distin- 
guished from  the  supporters  of  the  beast  and  the  false 
prophet.  Then,  God's  people  have  all  obeyed  the 
command,  "  Come  out  of  her." 

Thus  separated,  the  enemy  is  put  in  the  wine- 
press, and  Christ  alone  doth  tread  it  in  his  fury.  He 
treadeih  the  wine-press  of  the  fierceness  and  wrath  of 
Almighty''Ood.  And  he  hath  on  his  vesture  and  on 
his  thigh  a  name  written,  King  of  kings,  and  Lord 
OF  LORDS.*  Great  is  the  consequent  destruction. 
The  blood  comes  to  the  horse-bridles  by  the  space 
of  1600  furlongs. 

The  1600  Stadia,  i^Uhuv  ^ihiuv  i^oiKoa-im,  are  about 
200  miles,  the  distance  between  the  city  of  Rome  and 
the  river  Po,  and  are  supposed  to  designate  the  pope's 
own  territories,  called  Peter's  patrimony,  as  the  pe- 
culiar seat  of  the  last  war. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  this  may  be  the  case ;  but 
it  is  much  more  probable,  tfiat  the  20th  verse  is  to  be 

*  Rev.  xix.  15,  16, 


CONCLUSION.  477 

taken  metapliorically,  as  denoting  a  very  great  and 
general  slaugliter.  If  the  claims  of  tyranny  and  su- 
perstition be  efiectually  defeated,  and  correct  princi- 
ples established  on  their  ruin,  it  is  of  little  conse- 
quence  to  the  moral  world  and  to  the  church  of  God, 
where  battles  are  fought,  and  whether  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Rome,  of  Paris,  or  of  London,  be  the  seat 
of  war.  The  event,  blessed  be  God,  is  beyond  a 
doubt.  We  leave  the  circumstances  to  be  ordered 
by  infinite  wisdom.  "  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth  do  right?" 

III.  Application. 

1 .  Let  true  Christians  cherish  the  hope  of  a  speedy 
release  fiom  antichristian  bondage.  The  time  in 
which  this  last  judgment  is  to  be  inflicted  is  very 
distinctly  declared.  It  is  at  the  close  of  the  period 
of  1260  years.  If  these  years  are  to  be  calculated 
according  to  the  mode  in  use  among  the  Jews,  and 
supposed  to  be  indicated  in  these  prophecies,  each 
of  them  will  be  nearly  six  days  shorter,  than  a  year 
of  our  calendar:  .30  days  to  each  month,  and  12 
months  to  a  year,  will  make  the  year  to  consist  of 
360  days.  Of  such  years,  1260  amount  to  less  than 
1243  according  to  our  calculation.  Should  we  fol- 
low the  respectable  expositors  who  take  this  method 
of  computation,  we  must  conclude  that  the  final 
overthrow  of  the  beast  and  the  papacy  will  certainly 
take  place  in  the  year  1848:  and  those  who  live  34 
years  from  the  present  day  will  see  an  end  to  all  ty- 
ranny and  superstition. 


47  U  CONGLlTSIOJN. 

i  by  no  means  admit  the  correctness  of  this  mode 
of  interpretation.  The  author  of  the  Apocalypse, 
although  he  reveals  years  in  symbolical  language, 
intends  by  this  language  to  give  us  true  years.  Our 
own  Calendar  being  according  to  nature,  is  according 
to  truth,  and  the  1260  years  I  take  to  be  of  that  de- 
scription. The  years  of  Daniel's  70  weeks,  and  of 
the  Arabian  locusts  and  Euphratean  horsemen,  were 
all  the  common  solar  time :  and  of  course  the  man 
of  sin  retains  power  until  the  year  1866.  It  will 
therefore  take  somewhat  more  than  half  a  century 
from  the  present  time,  to  bring  the  Latin  apostacy 
to  a  full  end.  Admitting,  then,  that  the  harvest  is 
commenced,  we  must  expect  its  continuance  for 
twenty  or  thirty  years  to  come  :  for  the  seventh  vial, 
with  which  the  vintage  synchronizes,  will  be  very 
speedy  in  its  operations ;  and  the  overthrow  of  the 
present  political  establishments  of  the  Roman  world 
will  require  much  more  time  than  the  execution  of 
vengeance  upon  the  vine  of  the  earth.  Let  the  secu- 
lar power  be  withdrawn  from  corrupt  churches ;  let 
the  impious  policy  which  has  become  venerable  by 
its  antiquity,  and  which  is  sanctioned  by  a  thousand 
various  interests  and  prejudices,  be  once  at  an 
end ;  and,  even  though  a  more  absurd  system  should 
have  a  temporary  elevation,  it  will  be  infinitely 
more  easy  for  the  friends  of  righteousness  on  the 
earth,  to  correct  the  evil,  and  raise  upon  its  ruins  the 
Christian  order  in  church  and  state. 

Both  the  events  of  this  age,  and  the  sure  word 
of  prophecy,  indicate  the  increase  of  knowledge, 
and  a  great  and  growing  reformation.    If  the  beast 


•  CONCLOSIOW.  47B 

of  the  abyss,  after  the  friends  of  reform  have  be- 
come so  poverful,  as  to  occupy  his  whole  attention, 
take  the  alarm,  and  in  his  agony  slay  the  witnesses, 
Iheir  death,  and  the  joy  of  their  enemies,  will  be  of 
hhort  duration.  The  witnesses  shall  arise  after  three 
days  and  a  half,  and  fear  shall  fall  upon  their  ad- 
versaries. 

Thirty  years  in  addition  to  the  1260,  Dan.  xii.  11. 
will  bring  about  a  general  improvement  among  th«^ 
nations  of  the  world;  and  45  years  more,  or  1335 
years  from  the  rise  of  the  Roman  apostacy,  which 
will  bring  us  to  the  year  of  our  Lord  2001,  will 
reveal  the  happy  millennium  in  its  full  light  and 
glory.  Satan  shall  not  then  have  it  in  his  power  to 
disturb  the  repose  of  the  saints;  to  practise  his  temp- 
tation among  the  churches;  or  to  influence,  as  the  god 
of  this  world,  the  councils  of  civil  rulers.  The  be- 
nevolent principles  of  Christianity  shall  then  be 
universally  known  and  received ;  and  the  world  shall 
be  made  to  acknowledge  their  happy  influence  over 
society.  Blessed  is  he  that  waiteth,  and  cometh  to  the 
thousand  three  hundred  and  five  and  thirty  days.^ 

2.  Be  persuaded,  Christians,  from  a  review  of 
the  contents  of  this  chapter,  to  co-operate  with  the 
friends  of  truth  among  the  nations.  These,  although 
scattered  and  disunited,  are  still  numerous.  There 
are  on  Mount  Zion  along  with  the  Lamb  144,000, 
having  their  Father's  name  written  in  their  fore- 
heads— the  pious  of  different  communities'. 

*  Dan.  xii.   12. 


480  CONCLDSION. 

The  means  of  reformation  are  already  becoming 
visible.  A  powerful  excitement  is  communicated 
to  the  Christian  world.  Unparalleled  efforts  are 
made  for  the  diffusion  over  the  nations,  of  the  light 
of  the  gospel.  Be  not  terrified  at  the  noise  of  the 
battle.  Lo,  upon  the  white  cloud  your  Saviour 
sitteth,  having  on  his  head  a  golden  crown.  He 
directs  both  the  harvest  and  the  vintage  of  wrath, 
and  he  animates  to  exertion  the  children  of  promise. 

Lay  aside  the  jealousies,  and  the  prejudices  of 
party  spirit.  Adhere  to  the  truth,  coiAend  for  the 
faith,  adopt,  exemplify,  perpetuate  the  order  and 
discipline  of  the  sanctuary.  It  is  no  time  for  the 
friends  of  religion  to  give  play  to  their  passions,  to  in- 
dulge  in  schemes  of  selfish  policy,  to  encourage  emu- 
lation and  strife  for  pre-eminence.  Rather  let  the  he- 
ralds of  the  divided  churches  boldly  grasp  the  stand- 
ard of  Messiah,  and  march  forward  at  the  head  of  the 
people  with  displayed  banners.  Understanding  and 
anticipating  the  character  of  the  millennium,  let  all 
the  churches  aim  at  conformity  to  it :  Awakening 
from  their  stupor — arising  from  their  languor— return- 
ing from  their  wandering,  let  them  all,  however  far 
now  separated,  ascend  the  several  sides  of  Mount 
Zion,  until  meeting  at  its  high  summit,  they  shall 
in  the  company  of  the  Lamb,  join  in  the  music  of  the 
harp,  and  become  one  fold.  Amen.  Even  so,  come. 
JLord  Jesus. 

THE   END 


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